Parents must overcome daily obstacles and challenges to keep their children safe. This is a difficult task since children are very accident prone and looking away for a split second can result in bruises and scars.
Child injuries
Minor injuries are part of growing up and, some say, are useful for building character. A playground is a place where (most of the time) children have fun, exercise and explore nature. However, what happens when a child is seriously injured on the playground due to faulty equipment or lack of maintenance and who can be taken accountable?
In this article, we would like to offer information to help you discern the situation in which you can sue. We’ve written down some of your legal options and rights.
Specializing in many different areas of law, Optimal Solicitors is the perfect solution if you’re having issues with complicated law procedures. They offer you a forward way of thinking combined with years and years of experience!
Playground injuries
Playground injuries are common and frequent and they mostly consist of internal injuries, bone fractures, dislocations, concussions and even amputations.
The causes vary but are always connected to faulty design choices or a lack of safety equipment. For instance, inadequate fall zone protection or improper protective surfacing can lead to multiple child injuries.
What does the law say?
Owners of the playground are responsible for the children that use the premises. The law requires them that they (the legal owners) ensure that any predictable injuries or dangers are addressed.
For the lawsuit to be viable, you would need to file it under the legal theory of premises liability. For the lawsuit to be applicable it must meet the following criteria:
- The main thing is to find the cause and link the defendant’s (in)actions to the child’s injury. The most often causes are unsafe equipment, insufficient supervision of the children and neglect in the upkeep of equipment.
- The defendant must have control over the property (playground) and be in charge of it. You need to prove that the defendant is the owner and therefore the one who is responsible for that playground.
- The child was expected and allowed to be on the property where he/she got injured – he/she had permission to be there. On the other hand, it’s probably not possible to sue if your child was passing through and/or playing on private property.
- The defendant has failed to meet the criteria for maintenance and sanitation of playground equipment and did not assure the safety for the persons who used it.
- The injury that happened was predictable and is a result of faulty maintenance (for example a broken step on the slide).
Identifying the cause of injury
When establishing the cause of the injury, an important thing is to identify if the fault was made in construction or design.
In the first case, a company or a person responsible for constructing that playground can also be named in the lawsuit.
If the fault is in the design, it means that the playground was dangerous from the start and child injury was just a matter of time. In this case, all playgrounds with the same design can also be defective.
If something like this happens to you or someone you know, exercise your legal right, and contact an attorney. Our Manchester Office team might help you hold the person responsible – not only hold them accountable but also ensure that the park is corrected so that these accidents do not happen again in the future to somebody else.
