Every day, millions of American parents entrust their children to preschools and daycares while they are at work, and parents put their faith in the employees of these establishments to care for their children and provide adequate supervision to prevent injuries. The Phoenix preschool and daycare abuse attorneys at Begam Marks & Traulsen, P.A. understand how devastating it can be for parents to realize that a child has been abused or neglected at school or daycare, and we are here to help them pursue compensation for their damages through civil actions.
Who Is Liable for a Daycare Injury?
Children get bumps, scrapes, and bruises as a natural part of playing and growing up, but it’s essential for daycare staff, teachers, and school employees to prevent injuries to children wherever foreseeable. Staff must also be attentive to the children in their care to prevent them from hurting themselves or others.
If your child suffers an injury at school, it’s important to determine whether the injury was foreseeable and preventable. It’s also crucial to find evidence that shows whether the supervisors present were adequately watching the child. After addressing your child’s medical needs, meet with a reliable Phoenix personal injury attorney as soon as possible to start building a case and gathering the necessary evidence.
Your case may take several forms depending on the situation. For example, if a daycare employee directly abused your child, you would file a civil action against the employee for the abusive conduct, but you may also need to file a claim against the daycare if they did not properly vet the employee before hiring or did not provide adequate training. If the daycare allowed a dangerous hazard to persist on the premises and the hazard harms a child, the daycare would be liable for negligence.
Third-Party Claims and Product Liability
In some cases, third parties or product manufacturers can face legal action for a daycare or preschool injury. For example, a group of preschoolers on a field trip are crossing a street and a drunk driver hits a child. In this case, if the daycare staff did everything they reasonably could to keep the children safe but could not prevent the injury, the parents would file a lawsuit against the driver, who would likely also face criminal prosecution from the state.
In the event that a defective product, such as a children’s toy or playground equipment, causes an injury, the parents would likely want to pursue a product liability claim against the manufacturer. Unlike personal injury lawsuits, product liability claims are not very dependent on the concept of negligence. While the plaintiff does not necessarily need to prove negligence to succeed in a product liability claim, the plaintiff will need to prove that the product in question is indeed defective and the defect caused the child’s injuries.
Winning Your Case in Arizona
After your child suffers a daycare or preschool injury in Arizona, you can secure various types of compensation through your lawsuit. Whether you intend to file a product liability claim against a defective product manufacturer or a personal injury claim against a negligent daycare employee, you can secure compensation for your child’s medical expenses and pain and suffering. You can also secure additional compensation for your own emotional distress due to your child’s injury and lost income for the time you must miss from work.
The most important step in winning your daycare injury lawsuit is finding the right attorney. Begam Marks & Traulsen, P.A. has decades of experience handling civil claims for our clients in the Phoenix area, and we can put our resources and skills to work in your case. Contact us today to schedule a free consultation with one of our attorneys. After we review the facts of your case, we can let you know what type of compensation to expect from a lawsuit.