Children throughout the United States are cared for by others while parents are working or otherwise unavailable to be with their children. Daycare centers, nanny and babysitter agencies, and private individuals offer these services. Parents place their trust in the competence and reliability of these individuals and entities to properly care for their children and to do their utmost to protect their children’s health and safety while the children are under their care. Yet, many children’s injuries and deaths are caused by caregiver negligence.
Child and daycare injury attorney Jeffrey Killino has extensive experience and expertise with all types of child injury cases, including those arising out of injuries or deaths caused by the negligence of childcare companies or their employees. If your child has been injured or killed in a daycare or other childcare related accident and you suspect that your child’s injury or death was caused by childcare negligence, you may be entitled to compensation for the damages you and your family have suffered. Contact attorney Killino at 877-875-2927 for a cost-free assessment of your case and additional information about your legal rights and options.
Legal Liability for Children’s Childcare Injuries and Deaths
Daycare center injuries or deaths may be caused by someone’s negligence as well as by defects in equipment used by daycare centers in the care of children on their premises. Liability for such injuries or deaths may depend on the negligence and product liability laws of the state in which a daycare injury action is filed.
Liability for Negligently Caused Injuries and Deaths
Daycare centers, nanny and babysitter services, and private individuals who undertake the responsibility to care for others’ children have a duty to exercise due care for the safety of the children entrusted to their care. When a daycare center or its employees breach this duty of care, they may be found liable for a child’s resulting injury or death through the institution of a negligence action by the child or the child’s survivors. Daycare centers themselves may be found to have breached the duty of care owed to children in their centers by failing to remove or repair broken or defective furniture or toys, hiring negligent or unqualified employees, or failing to discharge employees known to have given less than adequate care to children.
A daycare center may also be found to have negligently caused a child’s injury or death by failing to adequately maintain the center’s outdoor playground. Such negligent maintenance may be due to a failure to repair or remove broken or defective playground equipment, a failure to provide an adequate number of employees to supervise children while they are on the center’s playground, or the erection of playground equipment that is unsafe for children in the age range of those cared for by the center. When a daycare center is found to have negligently caused a child’s injury or death in such a manner, the center may be found directly liable for the damages suffered by the child or child’s family as a result.
Daycare centers may also be found indirectly, or vicariously, liable for injuries or deaths caused by the negligence of their employees. If, for instance, a daycare employee fails to adequately supervise children in a daycare center and the employee’s inadequate supervision is found to have been a cause of a child’s injury or death, the daycare center, as the negligent employee’s employer, may be found indirectly liable for the child’s injury or death. In addition, the negligent employee may be found directly liable for the injury or death to a child caused by the employee’s own negligence.
The same duty of care owed by daycare centers and their employees is owed by nannies, babysitters, and the agencies or services that employ them. Just as daycare centers may be found liable for injuries or deaths caused by employees’ negligence or the direct negligence of daycare centers, nanny and babysitter services may be held directly and/or indirectly liable for injuries or deaths caused by the negligence of the service or by that of their employees.
Private individuals who offer to care for another’s child may also be held liable for children’s injuries or deaths caused by the individuals’ negligence. Such liability may be imposed on neighbors, friends, and relatives who have accepted the responsibility to care for a child and may be imposed regardless of whether the individual was offered or accepted payment for his or her childcare services.
Daycare Injuries Caused by Defective Products
In some cases, daycare injuries or deaths are caused by defective equipment inside a daycare center or on a daycare center’s outdoor grounds. In such cases, the manufacturers and others involved in the production of such products may be held liable for injuries or deaths caused to children by a product’s defect. Under most states’ product liability laws, the designers, manufacturers, assemblers, suppliers, and retailers of furniture, play equipment, or toys may be found strictly liable for children’s injuries or deaths caused by these products’ defects. Strict liability claims allow a plaintiff to hold such defendants liable for a child’s injury or death caused by a product defect without having to prove that any of the defendants was negligent in producing the defective product or releasing it to the market.
Contact Us
Daycare child injury lawyerJeffrey Killino is dedicated to holding all those responsible for children’s daycare injuries and deaths accountable through legal action. If your child has been injured or killed in a daycare accident or incident as a result of someone’s negligence or a defect in a product to which your child gained access while in daycare, contact attorney Jeffrey Killino at 877-875-2927 for expert and experienced assistance with your child’s daycare accident case.
