Can a School District be Sued for Injuries to Students?
Posted: Friday, January 29th, 2021 at 9:21 pm
Can a School District be Sued for Injuries to Students?
Minor injuries are part and parcel of school life. However, in cases of severe injuries, parents do not have the liberty to file a lawsuit right away, even if the school district is responsible.
Legally, we know that a school district bears responsibility for the injuries a child sustains on campus. However, it is not a simple process to determine who the perpetrator of the accident was.
It could have been another student who threw a heavy object at your child and caused the injury. It could be an accidental collision in the playground. With these examples, it is easy to note that a student might have been the responsible party and not the school authority themselves.
As parents or guardians, the first natural inclination is to sue the school district. Even if another student was the responsible party, an accident occurring on the school campus makes the school management legally responsible.
Several reasons support the idea of holding the school management responsible for an accident. These include:
- School authorities are failing to conduct thorough ground inspections to ensure the safety of students during playtime.
- They fail to remove potentially dangerous objects from the school campus, which students can use to harm one another.
- Ignoring or not taking action towards the propensity for aggressive behavior is certain for students.
- Failure of school employees to supervise the activities of students.
In case one of the above reasons is the grounds that allowed your child’s injury to occur, you can sue the school district for it.
Sovereign Immunity
You may have heard of certain entities that people refer to as “political subdivisions.” Under this title comes the municipal government level, county, state agencies, federal government, school districts, etc.
Now many states provide these agencies some authority, such as sovereign immunity. Under this authority, the entitled agencies are somewhat immune from lawsuits so that any complaint outsiders may file does not register against the government agencies and employees.
The good news here is that despite the school districts’ sovereign immunity, we can file lawsuits against them, especially with evidence of our child sustaining injury due to school negligence. Despite the protection states give under “sovereign immunity,” specific circumstances allow no exemption for even the government agencies. This means that states voluntarily waive the immunity facility and support compensation from the school district or its employees who caused a child’s injury.
However, you must note that you have to observe specific procedures to claim eligibility to file a lawsuit. Failure to abide by these procedures means you will lose the right to file a lawsuit in court.
Final Thoughts
You can file a lawsuit in the event that your child suffers from an injury in the school district. However, specific procedures and certain criteria exist that determine your eligibility and right to file a lawsuit. The rules for suing a school district vary per state, but typically, the law allows taking action in such circumstances.
To initiate the process of filing a complaint in court, you must first file a “Notice of Claim” or such a document with an appropriate agency.
https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/can-school-district-be-sued-injuries-students.html
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