Negligent Daycare Injury Lawyers in Los Angeles

Although some parents have the luxury of having friends and family that they trust to care for their children while they are at work, many working parents depend on daycare providers. These daycare providers are responsible for keeping kids safe while under their care. Unfortunately, dangerous conditions in the daycare could lead to incidents that could lead to injuries at daycare centers. If your child was injured at a daycare center, it is important that you reach out to an experienced daycare injury lawyer as soon as possible. Based on the details surrounding the incident and the harm that occurred, you could have the right to sue and receive compensation.

If you are looking for legal help for daycare injuries, reach out to our attorneys experienced in daycare injury as soon as possible. Here at the Kenmore Law Group, our team has decades of experience and are more than ready to provide you with he guidance that you need pursue your claim against the negligent daycare center. If you are ready to speak with our experienced child injury lawyers contact us today!

Daycare Providers and their Legal Responsibilities

Licensed daycares have to adhere to strict standards set and enforced by the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) and the Community Care Licensing Division (CCLD). These standards are summarized below:

• Staff must meet requirements for age, education, and experience. They must pass criminal background checks and have clearances from the Child Abuse Index. Staff must also undergo health screenings and be clear of infectious diseases. There must always be at least one staff member with valid CPR/first-aid certification present at the facility. Staff must complete required health and safety training, mandated reporter training, and continue their professional development.
• The daycare must always maintain the appropriate staff-to-child rations to ensure that children are appropriately supervised. The ratio will vary based on the age of the children. Infants have stricter ratios than older children.
• The facility must be safe for children. It must be properly childproofed, outdoor spaces must be fenced and have age appropriate playground equipment, rest and nap areas must remain clean with appropriate spacing, and the facility must meet the minimum square footage per child requirement to prevent overcrowding. The facility must also adhere to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
• The facility must have written emergency plans and disaster plans. The daycare facility must regularly conduct fire and earthquake drills; these drills must be documented. First aid supplies must remain readily available. The facility must maintain updated child/parent information and emergency contact information at all times.
• The facility must keep appropriate child records (enrollment forms, immunization records, health history, emergency authorizations, etc.) and staff records (personnel files, qualifications/certifications, background checks, and training logs). The facility must immediately report serious injuries, illnesses, and incidents to the CDSS and to parents.

Of course, daycare providers also have a duty to keep children safe under premise liability law. If your child was injured while at a daycare center, reach out to a lawyer to sue daycare for injury as soon as possible for information about the options available to you.

Some of the Common Causes of Daycare Injuries

• Wrong staff-to-child ratio
• Inappropriate supervision or no supervision (children being left unattended during meals, sleep, playtime, etc.)
• Unsafe equipment or furniture on the premises (like playground equipment, furniture, toys, etc.)
• Hazards like wet floors, cluttered floors, blocked walkways, leaks, etc. that could lead to slip and falls and trip and falls
• Improperly mounted/anchored furniture, decorations, frames, signs, etc. leading to falling objects
• And more

Possible Injuries at Daycare Centers

Incidents at daycare centers could result in some of the following injuries:

• Cuts and bruises
• Scrapes and lacerations
• Broken bones
• Dislocations
• Head injuries, like concussions and TBIs
• Neck injuries and back injuries
• Spinal cord injuries
• Falling object injury (specifically, neck injuries and shoulder injuries)
• Suffocation or asphyxiation (usually caused by entrapment)
• Drowning or near-drowning
• Burn injuries (ranging in degree)
• Choking
• Psychological injuries
• And more

Regardless of the specific harm that your child suffered at a daycare center, you should reach out to a daycare playground injury lawyer as soon as possible to explore the legal options available to you and your family. If the injuries your child sustained were a result of negligence, you could have the right to file a lawsuit.

Negligence in Daycare Incidents and Your Right to Sue

If your child was injured in a daycare incident that occurred due to negligence, you could file an injury claim. It is important that you understand your right to sue. In general, the right to sue is based on the concept of negligence, which consists of the following four elements:

• The daycare owed a duty of care (that is, the duty to keep the child safe)
• The duty of care was breached
• The breached duty of care caused an incident
• The incident resulted in harm

What does this mean? To put it simply, daycare providers have a duty to keep the children under their care safe from the moment that they are dropped off to the moment they are picked up. To exercise their duty of care, they must keep the premises free of any dangerous conditions, which could include wet floors, broken playgrounds, dangerous toys, etc. When daycares fail to identify/address the dangerous conditions on their premises and an incident occurs, then they can be held liable for any injuries or other harm that occurs as a result. This means that parents could file a lawsuit for the harm suffered by their children at daycares.

Addressing Other Common Questions:

• Are all daycare incidents caused by negligence? No, incidents at daycares do not always happen because of negligence. It is normal for young children to suffer minor injuries like scrapes, bruises, etc. during play. If there is no negligence, then parents may not be eligible to pursue a claim.
• Can product manufacturers be liable for daycare incidents? Yes, if the incident at the daycare center was caused by a defective product, such as defective playground equipment or defective furniture, then negligent product manufacturers can be liable and can be sued. It is possible for product manufacturers and daycare owners to share liability.
• What if the daycare center was part of a local school? When the daycare where the incident happened was owned/operated by a school, then the school and school district could be sued.
• What if the harm happened because of child abuse? Even if the injuries to a child happened because of child abuse, or intentional/malicious actions of the daycare staff like shaking, hitting, etc., parents could still pursue claims against the daycare. Of course, the staff who abused the child may also face criminal charges.
• What if parents signed liability waivers? Even if parents signed liability waivers, parents could still have the right to sue given that the child’s injuries occurred due to gross negligence or intentional infliction of harm.

No matter your specific circumstances, we encourage you to reach out to our Los Angeles attorneys for daycare injury claims to get a better understanding of your right to file your lawsuit.

Understanding How to Sue a Daycare for Negligence in California

If your child sustained injuries due to daycare supervision negligence, you could certainly have the right to sue. However, a lot of people miss their opportunity to sue because they do not take the appropriate action after the incident. To ensure that you preserve evidence and can bring a strong claim forward, consider some of the following recommendations:

• Photograph any visible injuries
• Take photos of any dangerous conditions that may have contributed to the incident
• Seek medical care for your child as soon as possible
• Always follow all recommended medical care, go to all appointments, etc.
• Gather all relevant medical records
• Report the incident to the CDSS and to the daycare facility (make a written report and request a copy for your records)
• If the incident was a result of intentional and/or malicious actions, file a report with the local police department (request a copy for your records)
• Request surveillance footage
• If there were witnesses, gather their contact information for later reference
• Collect all relevant communications between you and the daycare, including emails or texts notifying you of the incident (if there is verbal communication, follow up via email to ensure that there is appropriate records)
• Find legal help (you will need to contact an experienced daycare accident attorney to help you pursue a claim)

Without a doubt, it can be difficult to figure out what steps to take after finding out that your child was injured while in daycare. If you find yourself unsure of what you should do next or do not know where to start, do not hesitate to reach out to an attorney for unsafe daycare conditions as soon as possible. Our team can guide you from start to finish!

How Much is a Daycare Injury Lawsuit Worth?

If you are considering the possibility of pursuing a claim, you may have questions about the whether you could be eligible to recover compensation and how much you could be eligible to receive. So, what could you recover? Some of the different categories of compensation available for recovery could include the following:

• Medical expenses
• Projected medical expenses for future medical care
• Lost income
• Pain and suffering
• Punitive damages
• Treble damages
• Legal expenses
• And more

These are the categories that may be available for recovery. Ultimately, the specific value of your claim will be based on the facts. The facts that will affect the value of your claim will include the type of incident, the injuries suffered, the extent of the injuries suffered (whether they caused permanent harm or required long-term care), the total medical costs incurred as a result of the incident, whether the incident resulted in psychological harm, and more. Daycare injury cases can be worth anywhere from $50,000 to $1.5 million, and sometimes more.

No matter the details surrounding your claim, you can trust that our daycare injury lawyers are more than ready to fight for your right to recover the maximum recovery available for your claim. Whether our experts have to negotiate a settlement or take your claim to trial to reach a verdict, you can be sure that our lawyers will help you secure the payout that you and your family are owed. For more information about the possible value of your claim and what you could recover, contact a preschool injury attorney at our firm today.

Contact Kenmore Law Group to Speak to a Daycare Abuse Attorney in Los Angeles

If your child was injured at a daycare facility, you could have the right to file an injury claim. You could also be entitled to recover compensation for the damages resulting from the incident. To ensure that you have a thorough understanding of the legal options available to you and your family, please do not hesitate to reach out to a Los Angeles daycare injury attorney. Our experts are more than ready to fight for your rights and help you reach justice. Contact our daycare negligence lawyers today!

We understand the stress and difficulties that parents may face if their children are suddenly injured at a daycare center. To make things just a bit easier, our firm offers free legal services, which include free consultations and free second opinions. During these free legal services, our experts will be available to answer all your questions, address all your concerns, and ensure that you have access to all the information that you need to begin or continue your claim. If you would like to schedule a free case evaluation, contact us today.

Zero-Fee Guarantee: our clients will never have to pay any upfront costs for any of our legal services. That is, you can contact our firm and schedule a case review without having to worry about paying anything at all. Our firm also works on a strict contingency structure, meaning that you will not be responsible for paying anything at all if your lawsuit is not successful. If you do not win, you will not have to pay anything at all.

If you are ready to learn more about your right to file a childcare injury lawsuit in California, contact Kenmore today!