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As parents, we trust our children’s schools to keep them safe. We send them off to class, to the playground, and to sports practices with the belief that they are in a protected environment. But sometimes, accidents happen that go beyond the usual bumps and scrapes. When a child suffers a serious injury at school, it can be a profoundly distressing experience for the whole family. Questions start to emerge: Was this preventable? Did the school do something wrong? Can a Florida school be held responsible for a child’s injury?
For parents in and around Winter Park, the legal answer is complex and depends heavily on the specific details of the incident. It involves understanding the legal duties schools owe to their students, as well as a key Florida legal concept known as sovereign immunity. Our injury attorneys are here to help you understand these concepts and guide you on the path forward.
The School’s Duty of Care
A central part of any personal injury claim is proving negligence. This legal concept is based on the idea that every person and organization has a duty to act with a certain level of care to prevent harm to others. In Florida, courts sometimes recognize that a special relationship exists between a school and its students. During school hours or at school-sponsored activities, the school can be found to assume the role of a parent, a legal concept known as “in loco parentis.”
Schools generally have a legal duty to provide a safe environment and to supervise students to protect them from foreseeable harm. This duty extends across many different scenarios, including:
- Premises Liability: Maintaining safe school grounds, classrooms, and playgrounds
- Negligent Supervision: Ensuring teachers and staff properly supervise students
- Sports Injuries: Providing proper instruction, equipment, and supervision during athletic activities
- School Violence: Taking reasonable steps to protect students from known threats or violence from other students or outside individuals
If a school fails to uphold this duty and that failure leads directly to a child’s injury, it may have been negligent.
Private Schools vs. Public Schools: The Role of Sovereign Immunity
When an injury occurs at a private school, the legal process is similar to a typical personal injury case against a private business. You or your attorney would file a claim with the school’s liability insurance carrier. If the injury happens at a public school, the case is more complicated because of Florida’s sovereign immunity law.
Public schools are part of the state government. Under Florida Statutes section 768.28, the state has waived its sovereign immunity, but only to a limited extent. Under the law, parents can sue a public school or school district for negligence, but there are strict limitations on the amount of damages that attorneys can seek.
For example, section 768.28 limits the amount of compensation that can be recovered in a lawsuit against a state agency to $200,000 per person and $300,000 per incident. A claim for more than this amount can only be paid if the Florida Legislature passes a specific “claim bill” authorizing the extra payment.
The sovereign immunity law also has a special procedure for filing a claim. Before a lawsuit can be filed, you must provide written notice of your claim to the appropriate government agency and the Florida Department of Financial Services. This notice must be given within three years of the injury. Missing this deadline can prevent you from ever recovering compensation.
Building a Case for Your Child’s Injury
To build a case, whether against a public or private school, it must be demonstrated that the school’s negligence was the cause of your child’s injury. Proving negligence requires gathering strong evidence to prove the school breached its duty of care.
Some examples of how a breach might occur include:
- A school ignores a known safety hazard on a playground, like broken equipment, and a child gets hurt
- A teacher leaves a group of young children unsupervised during recess, and one child is injured in a fall
- A school fails to address a pattern of bullying, and the victim is physically assaulted
- A coach pressures a student to continue playing despite a diagnosed injury, leading to a more severe condition
Evidence to support these claims can come from a variety of sources, including witness statements, medical records, and surveillance footage from cameras on school property or in the surrounding area. An attorney can also review maintenance logs and internal school policies to determine if the school failed to adhere to its own rules.
How Our Firm Can Help
At Cullen & Hemphill, PLC, we believe that an injured child deserves an empathetic legal team that will fight for their rights. Our firm was founded to lower the traditional barriers between lawyers and their clients. We purposefully keep our firm small and limit the number of cases we accept so that every family we represent receives our complete attention. We believe you should have direct access to your lawyers and be kept informed every step of the way.
We are dedicated to helping victims of others’ negligence. We understand how daunting a legal case can be and how much an immediate, compassionate response can ease your worries. We are here to help you navigate this difficult time.
We offer a no-cost, no-obligation consultation to discuss your child’s case. We will listen to your story, answer your questions, and provide an honest assessment of your options. We will not waste your time if we cannot help. Our attorneys work on a contingency fee basis, which means you do not pay us any fees unless we successfully get you a recovery.
To speak with us about your child’s injury, please call our Winter Park office today at 407-565-7386.
