School District Sued After Student Breaks Leg in Playground Mishap

The parents of a kindergartner have filed a personal injury lawsuit against the Palo Alto school district after their child broke his leg. According to the complaint, the kindergartner was near the slide on a playground when a second-grader jumped from the top of the slide and landed on the child, breaking his leg among other injuries. The parents contend that the school district failed to adequately supervise the children while they were playing. The second-grader had been told multiple times not to jump from the top of the slide but continued to do so. They say that the teacher tasked with supervising the children wasn’t paying adequate attention. According to the lawsuit, the teacher was called away to attend to another child leaving the children unsupervised. At that time, the second-grader jumped from the top of the slide causing injury to the kindergartner.

The lawsuit contends that the district was allegedly aware of the second-grader’s habit of jumping from the top of the slide, a key allegation in this type of personal injury lawsuit. Multiple teachers had told the boy to refrain from such behavior. This allegation establishes that the district was aware of the potential danger to other students and failed to take precautionary actions to prevent it from happening again. The parents contend that the district should have prevented the boy from using the play area after so many infractions. They further contend that the district’s policy of allowing second-graders to play alongside kindergartners was inherently dangerous.

The complaint accuses the school district of negligence, willful failure to warn against a dangerous condition, structure or activity; and having a dangerous condition on public property when the defendants had prior notice of the dangerous condition.

Elements of negligence

If your child is injured at school, you may be able to file a personal injury lawsuit against the school district responsible for providing supervision and care to the child. In these cases, you must allege that the school district was somehow negligent for the injury. In other words, you must be able to establish that the school district owed a duty of care to the child and they failed in that duty of care. That failure led to a preventable injury.

In this case, the parents are alleging that the school district had foreknowledge of the dangerous condition, which was, in this case, a second-grader with a propensity for jumping off the top of the slide, creating a potential danger to himself and other students. The parents allege that the teacher on duty was negligent for turning their attention away from the play area, allowing the student to jump from the slide, and causing injury to their child. This is a strong argument because the school district had foreknowledge that the student repeatedly jumped from the top of the slide.

Talk to an Oakland, CA Personal Injury Attorney Today

The Oakland personal injury lawyers at Venardi Zurada represent the interests of plaintiffs in injury lawsuits filed against negligent defendants. Call our office today to schedule a free consultation and learn more about how we can help.

Source:

paloaltoonline.com/news/2023/08/03/palo-alto-school-district-sued-for-negligence-over-kindergarteners-broken-leg/