What should I do if my 11 year old son got beaten up and injured while riding the school bus?
Get Legal Help Today
Compare Quotes From Top Companies and Save
Secured with SHA-256 Encryption
What should I do if my 11 year old son got beaten up and injured while riding the school bus?
He was severely kicked and punched and suffered a neck injury. I took him to urgent care and he received stitches; an X-ray showed a neck injury so now he has to wear a cervical neck support. Do I have right to file a complaint against school District and the boy’s parent? Who will responsible for this matter? What else should I do in this case? And what kind of attorney should I talk to?
Asked on February 12, 2015 under Personal Injury, Ohio
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 9 years ago | Contributor
1) You can--and should--go to the police, file a police report, and look to press criminal charges against the boy: assault is a crime. The police should take this seriously: my daughter (15) was assaulted by another girl who took the snow shovel from her hands and hit her with it, concussing her, and our local police are bringing aggravated assault charges against her attacker.
2) You can sue the boy's parents: parents are legally responsible for the torts (wrongful acts) of their children, and assault is a tort as well as a crime. You could potentially recover medical costs, pain and suffering for the time your son is impaired/disabled, lost wages (if you missed work due to his medical care), etc.
3) The school district would not be criminally liable but could be civilly liable (i.e. you could sue them) IF they were not supervising the children properly. Generally, if there was little or no warning of an attack, they would not be liable--the school is not held to a standard of perfectly preventing all attacks. But if the attacker had a history of violence, had made threats against your son, and/or had been acting up for some minutes on the bus before the attack (so that the driver should have intervened), the school district could be liable.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Answer(s) provided above are for general information only. The attorney providing the answer was not serving as the attorney for the person submitting the question or in any attorney-client relationship with such person. Laws may vary from state to state, and sometimes change. Tiny variations in the facts, or a fact not set forth in a question, often can change a legal outcome or an attorney's conclusion. Although AttorneyPages.com has verified the attorney was admitted to practice law in at least one jurisdiction, he or she may not be authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction referred to in the question, nor is he or she necessarily experienced in the area of the law involved. Unlike the information in the Answer(s) above, upon which you should NOT rely, for personal advice you can rely upon we suggest you retain an attorney to represent you.