Tacoma School Injury Lawyer

Schools are not injury-free zones. Every kid gets sent to the school nurse for the occasional bump or scrape. But there are situations when the injury was severe, preventable, and the result of negligence. For these cases, having a Tacoma school injury lawyer help you file a claim might be your next step.

Read on to learn more about how our Tacoma lawyers may be able to help you during this difficult time.

Types of School Injuries

To be clear, not every accident or injury can or should result in a claim against a school. Our Tacoma personal injury attorneys can meet with you at no cost to hear what happened. We will need to prove that the school’s negligence resulted in significant injury to your child.

Some of the injuries we’ve seen in our practice include:

• Playground accidents
• PE or after-school sports accidents
• Injuries caused by another child
• School bus injuries
• Sexual abuse

If your child’s injury happened while during an offsite school activity, such as a field trip, the school may still be held liable.

What Should I Do if My Child Has Been Injured at School?

When the school nurse calls to tell you that your child has been hurt, your emotions are running high. Plus, it can be confusing to know what to do. Here are some general steps you can take right away:

1. Get your child medical care. Your first priority is making sure your child visits a doctor right away. At the visit, you may state that the accident occurred at school.
2. Take pictures of the scene. If you’re able, take pictures of the scene where the accident took place. Remember, conditions can change quick! The school may hurry to fix the broken piece of equipment or slippery sidewalk your child fell on.
3. Gather witness names and contact information. Get the names and contact information of anyone who was there at the time of the accident.

Please call us right away if you suspect your child’s accident was due to negligence. The sooner you can involve us, the better case we can build for you. There are deadlines and processes involved for bringing a claim against a school that we are prepared to handle on your behalf.

There is no fee for a consultation, so you risk nothing by calling us early in the process.

How Do I Know if My Child’s Injury was the Result of an Accident or Negligence?

Not every injury or accident is the school’s fault. First, we’ll want to meet with you to hear what happened. If we suspect that the injury was more than just an accident, we’ll collect evidence and talk to witnesses to learn all we can.

As an attorney, some of the questions we’ll want answered include:

• Was your child in the care of the school at the time of the accident?
• Did the injury come from a hazard that the school knew about?
• Were there any witnesses to the accident?
• Did your child’s actions in any way contribute to their injury?

Sometimes, parents aren’t sure if they have a case or not. Part of our job is help sort through the facts and decide if pursuing those liable makes sense.

Who’s Liable for my Child’s Injuries?

It depends.

Public schools are government entities. As such, they have key protections. However, this doesn’t mean that you can’t take legal action after a school. It does mean that there are processes and deadlines that you must follow. If your child goes to a public school, we highly recommend you not try to navigate this on your own.

Pursuing a claim against a private school is a different process, but also one we’re experienced with.

We might also discover additional parties who could be liable such as:

• Playground or equipment manufacturers
• Subcontractors
• Parents of a child who hurt your child

In some cases, we can file a claim against more than one party.

How can a School Injury Lawyer Help Me?

It’s a complicated process to file a lawsuit against a public school. We’ve seen people miss a step or deadline and have their entire case dismissed. Remember: schools have legal counsel to help them fight. Please, don’t try to go it alone. You need a trusted Tacoma school injury lawyer in your corner who understands the process.

Please call our attorneys today. There’s no fee for an initial consultation, and you only pay us if we’re able to win you a settlement.