AboutDoctor Settlement Expertise 27 years of front line plaintiff`s trial lawyer experience in PERSONAL INJURY INSURANCE CLAIMS. Along with other attorneys and insurance adjusters, we have created a website to help injured people settle their own personal injury claims. With the help from feedback from hundreds of satisfied members, www.settlementcentral.com has become THE AUTHORITY for Internet personal injury insurance claim settlements. I am humbled and honored if people can benefit from my experience and current volunteer work in helping injured people. I hope I can explain things in a manner that is useful for the questioner. If not, do not hesitate to e-mail me and I will take a second shot at it! Best Wishes for your physical and financial recovery.
Experience
Life Experience: 27 years of front line plaintiff's trial lawyer experience
Organizations: American Trial Lawyers Association (AAJ)
Washington State Trial Lawyers Association
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I am humbled and honored everytime I am selected to help injured people. And when people give feedback that they have benefited from my experience and current volunteer efforts, then that is a double honor and award for me.
Question Hello,
My son is in the seventh grade in a Tennessee Middle School. He was in the bathroom and when he turned to leave, he slipped on a wet floor near the urinals. He landed funny and broke his elbow. The injury required surgery including about 15 surgical staples and 2 pins. We are also looking at about 6 weeks of physical therapy.
The school has refused to provide an accident report and are now threatening to fail him due to too much missed time. Time he missed as a result of this injury. I didn't want to take legal action but the school is leaving me no choice. My co-pays are about to double and I was wondering what liability, if any, should the school system bear? If they refuse to help do we have a case to recoup our out of pocket expenses?
Answer Dear Jim,
It is always tough to see our little guys get hurt. But that is part of growing up I think: learning the consequences of failing to watch where you walk, or hurrying when you should be walking.
You should be able to get the accident report via a written request under the open public records act of your state. They might state that it is prepared in anticipation of litigation, which is a legitimate excuse to refuse you a copy.
But that accident report could contain information that might show the school knew that this was a dangerous condition. Absent proof from you and your son that this is something the school should have rectified or warned students about, it will be hard to prove liability for a personal injury award, including any payment for medical bills.
However, many schools do have insurance for kids injured on the premises. Ask about that. Unless your school district has some kind of insurance or stipulation to pay medical bills for any student injured on the property, this looks to be something that will be the responsibility of your son.
One of the difficulties of handling slip and fall cases is educating the client as to the fact that property owners or businesses or schools DO NOT INSURE the safety of visitors or occupants.
If a person slips and falls, he will have a claim for damages ONLY if the owner or business or school was NEGLIGENT. With respect to a bathroom in school, why should the school be negligent if there is water on the floor near the urinals?
Well, there are a few instances in which negligence could be imputed to the school. What if the plumbing to the urinal or a sink had been leaking and that made the floor wet? The school has the duty to inspect its property to make sure that there are no dangerous conditions.
If these floors are ALWAYS wet, either from a leak or kids goofing around, maybe the school bears some responsibility there, as well. However, in that case, your son would also be on notice of the danger.
Of course it is an entirely different question as to whether a wet floor is a dangerous condition when most kid’s bathrooms likely have wet floors from time to time. That brings up the responsibility of the victim to watch where he is walking and to use due care and caution in dangerous situation.
In summary, it is your duty to prove the claim, and you might have to investigate to see whether this wet area was the result of negligence.
I trust that my time here has produced some information that has been of value to you, and thus I would respectfully request that you take the time to locate the FEEDBACK FORM on this site and leave some feedback for me.
