Baltimore School Injuries + Accidents Lawyer

When you send your child to school in the morning, you expect them to come home safely. Unfortunately, many students are injured at school in Baltimore each year. For example, students can be assaulted, get injured in school bus accidents, or suffer head injuries from school sports like football. If your son or daughter got hurt at school in Baltimore, or if your child was injured at a school-related event like a field trip or sports competition, Rice, Murtha & Psoras can help you file a claim.

Our attorney can assist your family with personal injury or wrongful death lawsuits against teachers, school bus drivers, school nurses, school janitors, guidance counselors, principals, administrators, and others. When the Baltimore City Public School System allows a student under its care to get injured, our law firm is there to find answers and fight for compensation. For a free legal consultation about a school injury in Baltimore, contact Rice, Murtha & Psoras online, or call 24/7 at (410) 694-7291.

Types of Injuries and Accidents at Schools in Baltimore

If your child was injured at school, your ability to sue for compensation might change based on how the injury occurred and who was responsible for the injuries. In some cases, injuries at the school are caused by negligent upkeep and conditions on the premises, while others occur because of dangerous behaviors. the school can be held liable for many injuries where the staff or faculty failed some legal duty that they owed the child. the following are all types of accidents and injuries where the school could be held liable, but this is by no means an exhaustive list:

Injuries from Dangerous Premises

Schools and their administrators function as property owners and managers, to an extent. This means that school property needs to be safe for students, so icy patches on sidewalks and playgrounds or wet floors in the bathrooms could all be risks to student safety. Similarly, exposed outlets, broken handrails, broken stairs, and unnecessary fire hazards could be serious risks and should be repaired or made safe as appropriate for the age of the students in the building or classroom.

School Violence and Bullying

Schools can often be held accountable for intentional injuries if they negligently permitted the violence to continue in cases of reported bullying. Similarly, schools are also responsible for what happens on their property in cases of violence committed by teachers or workers at the school. Even in cases of school shootings or mass violence, the school might have been partly responsible if they failed to act to keep children safe by taking reasonable security measures or acting on reports of potential mass violence.

Allergic Reactions and Medical Complications

Schools are often informed about serious allergies and other medical conditions that might require quick treatment or special monitoring for a child. If the school agrees to certain terms – such as banning peanuts from the premises or holding a child’s medication at the nurse’s office – then the school is responsible for reasonably following those policies. If your child was injured because the school failed to enforce a policy against peanuts on campus or because your child was denied access to their medication or medical attention, the school should be held responsible.

Negligent Supervision

Many injuries at school occur because teachers fail to properly monitor the kids. As much as it might bother a child to be told not to act a certain way on the playground or to stop certain types of horseplay, this kind of supervision is necessary to prevent injuries for many children. If your child’s teacher or another faculty member failed to provide reasonable supervision and your child was hurt because of it, the school might be held liable, especially in cases involving young children.

Gym Class and School Sports Injuries

Injuries that happen in gym class or during school athletics programs might be unavoidable in some cases. Even reasonable supervision could still allow certain injuries to occur, such as a twisted ankle or sprained wrist from a fall. However, defective or dangerous equipment, negligent supervision, failure to enforce rules against hazing or bullying, or other examples of negligence could lead to serious injuries that the school could be held responsible for.

Lawsuits against schools can involve many different types of issues and accidents. We handle cases involving school accidents and injuries such as:

• Accidental death
• Accidental drowning
• Amputation injuries (loss of a finger, thumb, or limb)
• Bone fractures
• Bullying and school violence
• Chemistry class demonstration accidents
• Concussions and traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), often related to football or other school sports
• Cuts, scrapes, and bruises
• Dislocated joints
• Field trip injuries
• Hazing and alcohol poisoning
• Heat stroke (hyperthermia)
• Internal injuries
• Physical or sexual assault
• School bus accident injuries, such as fractures, cuts, or whiplash
• School shootings
• Serious allergic reactions
• Sexual abuse or harassment of students
• Slip and fall accident injuries
• Spinal cord injuries (SCIs) or paralysis, sometimes caused by gymnastics or cheerleading accidents
• Torn ligaments
• Visible permanent scars
• Woodshop injuries

Schools Liability for Student Injuries in Baltimore

Schools must take reasonable steps to ensure the safety of their students to the greatest extent possible. If a student gets hurt while he or she is under the school’s care, various parties may be liable for the injuries. it depends on whether the injuries resulted from negligence, which can be described as a careless failure to meet reasonable, acceptable safety standards. When a student is injured or killed due to negligence, the student or their surviving family members may have a claim. it may also be possible to file a claim if your child was injured due to an intentional act of wrongdoing, such as an act of violence of sexual abuse.

There are also cases in which third parties outside the school system may be liable or partially liable. For example, if your child’s injuries were caused by faulty or defective playground equipment, the manufacturer of the defective product could be partially at fault for your child’s accident.

Damages for Injuries at School in Baltimore

The damages that your child can receive after a serious accident or injury will depend on the specifics of the case. In most cases, injury victims will be able to claim damages for medical expenses against the at-fault parties, which means that you can claim compensation for the full cost of hospital visits, doctor’s appointments, rehabilitation, and other medical care for a serious injury. If the injury was permanent, your child could also get compensation for future medical needs related to the injury.

Your child will also be entitled to damages for the pain and suffering of the injury. This means seeking compensation for the pain they felt as well as the mental and emotional aspects of the injury, such as inability to participate in activities, worries about whether they will recover from the injury, and other instances of mental suffering and anguish.

In cases where the injury is permanent or will have long-term effects, you might also be able to claim damages for future lost wages and reduced earning capacity that your child will face.

In cases against a public school, laws limiting damages against the government might reduce how much you can claim in your case. However, claims against private and parochial schools do not usually have these same limitations, and you can claim damages for any harm your child faced.

What to Do if Your Child Got Hurt at School in Baltimore

If your child was injured at school or while riding the bus to or from school, you are advised to consult a lawyer right away. You may have a case against the school district or individual employees, but the laws regulating school lawsuits are highly complex, requiring careful review from an attorney with experience in this area of tort law.

Our office represents students and their families against public and private schools located throughout the Baltimore region. If your son or daughter was injured at a Baltimore preschool, elementary school, middle school, high school, or at any other type of academic or educational facility in Baltimore, our attorney may be able to assist with your claim. In addition to personal injury lawsuits, Randolph Rice also assists families with wrongful death lawsuits involving fatal school injuries.

How Long Do You Have to File a Lawsuit Against a School in Baltimore?

It is important to take action quickly after your child has suffered an injury at school. This is due to the statute of limitations, which limits the amount of time for filing a personal injury lawsuit in Baltimore, MD.

Under state law, the statute of limitations on personal injury claims is typically three years. However, due to provisions of the Tort Claims Act, there is a much shorter statute of limitations on claims against public schools in the state, such as Baltimore public schools: just one year. the Tort Claims Act applies only to lawsuits against public schools and does not affect cases against private schools or other privately-run facilities.

Baltimore School Injuries + Accidents Attorney Offering Free Consultations

At Rice, Murtha & Psoras, we are dedicated to helping students and their families get justice for unfair, negligent, or abusive treatment by Baltimore’s school system. If your child was attacked, abused, or got hurt in another type of accident at school, talk to attorney Randolph Rice about your family’s next steps. For a free legal consultation, contact Rice, Murtha & Psoras online today, or call (410) 694-7291 for assistance.