My Child Was Injured At School After Hours. Is the School Responsible?

December 14, 2023

Schools provide kids with a mind-boggling amount of extracurricular activities. Your child may be involved in football, basketball, swimming, track, cross country, color guard, marching band, lacrosse—sometimes simultaneously. Nearly all of these activities require your child to be at school when class isn’t in session.

If you have a child who stays at the school after hours, you may wonder what steps you can take if they become injured while on school grounds, and if the school would be responsible for their injury.

When the School is NOT Responsible

Any number of variables can result in your child getting hurt on school grounds. Many of those situations fall under the category of personal (whether your child’s or someone else’s) neglect, which is different from premises liability.

Say your child rough houses on some gym equipment before basketball practice. If their coach or supervisors have explicitly told the student athletes not to operate the equipment in a dangerous manner, then the school is likely not culpable for your child’s accident.

Or, say that another child spills their drink in the cafeteria. If your child slipped and fell on the wet spot, the school is still likely not responsible, especially if the spill occurred right before your child fell.

In general, schools are not responsible for student injuries except in the event of provable negligence or malevolence (i.e. repeated incidents of bullying).

When the School IS Responsible

Consider the previous example of your child becoming injured while using gym equipment. What if your child hadn’t been roughhousing? What if they were using the equipment exactly how they were supposed to, but were injured because the equipment broke?

If the school knew the equipment was in poor condition and failed to repair or remove it, then you may have grounds for filing a premises liability claim against the school.

The same goes for our spill scenario. The school has a responsibility to keep all surfaces safe for walking. If it doesn’t address potentially dangerous situations within a reasonable time of becoming aware of the hazard, then the administration may be culpable.

Help from a Muncie Premises Liability Lawyer

You may have a difficult time receiving compensation, especially if your child attends a public school. A local personal injury attorney can help you through the process of filing a claim against a public or private school.

If you or someone you know has a child who was inured at school after hours due to the school’s negligence, Hensley Legal Group may be able to help. Call us today or contact us online for a free conversation about your claim.

Our Muncie premises liability lawyers can help.