If my 6 year old son attends a day care from the district and has been injured there by 2 other children, is the daycare liable?
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If my 6 year old son attends a day care from the district and has been injured there by 2 other children, is the daycare liable?
About a month ago he was on a scooter and was pushed by an older child causing him to do a flip in the air and landing on his head. When I arrived to pick him up he was crying and holding an ice pack against the back of his head. Today I got a call from the daycare to let me know an older boy smashed his finger on a door. When I arrived my son’s finger was bleeding and bent forward. I was then told that the older boy smashed his finger and when the door did not close, he smashed it harder. This caused my sons finger to break. We took him to the emergency room. The problem is we have no medical insurance.
Asked on November 27, 2014 under Personal Injury, Illinois
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 9 years ago | Contributor
The daycare is only liable if you can show that they were negligent, or unreasonably careless, in how they supervised the children, and that's why the accidents occured. If the daycare kept a reasonable eye on the children--supervised them as well as someone watching children normally would--and despite that, the older boys managed to hurt your son, the daycare would not be liable. (Though in that case, you could sue the parents of the boys directly, since parents or legal guardians are liable for the injuries caused by their minor children.) Remember also that you can only recover your actual costs (e.g. medical bills), so there would be no liability for the first incident, which apparently did not result in taking your son to the doctor.
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