The school you send your child to is responsible for taking reasonable measures to keep your child safe. If your child becomes injured on the playground, two of the most common reasons are that the playground is defective or your child was playing very roughly. Either way, the school can be found liable for injuries.

You Can Sue if Your Child Wasn't Properly Supervised

Even if your child behaves in a manner that contributed to his or her injury, the school might still be found at fault by not providing proper supervision. To sue, you must demonstrate that the individual supervising the playground had agreed to watch over your child. Then, it must be proven that the school failed to properly monitor the child. Finally, it must be proven that your child suffered an injury as a result of this lack of supervision.

You Can Sue Under Other Special Circumstances

Duty of care is not only extended to time spent on the playground, but is also extended to playground activities outside the school grounds. For instance, if your child is taken to the zoo and the zoo has a playground, you may be able to sue. This is especially true of the playground equipment was defective. To sue on the grounds that the playground equipment was defective, you will need to find evidence that the equipment was the cause of the injuries your child sustained.

You'll Need Medical Information

To determine how much you will be compensated, you will need medical records that establish a connection between the injuries your child received and events that occurred on the playground. The medical records will also be used to establish the pain and suffering that your child experienced so the courts can know what damages should be awarded.

Your School System Might Be Immune

One of the challenges of filing a lawsuit is that some states cannot be sued because they have legal immunity. You can still sue in many cases, but you can only sue under specific rules that are governed by the state. This is in contract to countries like the U.K. where playgrounds have been removed so that schools could avoid being sued.

The Supreme Court has ruled that school authorities cannot be sued when children are engaged in normal playground activities, such as playing tag. Instead, children can only be sued if the playground is under extraordinary circumstances. For example, if there is considerable broken glass that wasn't cleaned up before recess, this would be considered a very dangerous situation that could lead to liability for school authorities. If you are unsure about whether you can sue, contact a personal injury attorney.