Featured News 2013 Personal Injury Possibilities: Sports at School

Personal Injury Possibilities: Sports at School

Every year, thousands of children head to the local emergency room after an injury that they received while playing a school sport. In some cases, parents can sue the school where the injury took place if they can prove that the administration is partially to blame for the accident. School sport injuries can be serious, disabling, or permanent. In some cases, the injuries can even result in death. For example, a cheerleader can fall from the top of a formation, hitting her head on the hard gym floor and suffering a permanent brain injury.

Football players are often harmed while out on the field because of the violent contact, and some may suffer muscle tears or broken bones that will prevent the individual from ever playing sports again. This is why schools are required to put an emphasis on safety when playing sports. All schools should provide their athletes with all necessary protective equipment and make sure that children wear this equipment whenever they are playing.

Also, schools are required to carefully monitor the health of the children playing sports and modify any exercises if they begin seeing signs of exhaustion. While children should be exercised in sports, coaches need to remember to make them stretch first to prevent muscle tears. Children also shouldn't be pushed so far that they can suffer overexertion injuries.

When it comes to school lawsuits, the claims are often hit or miss. Some families are able to win million dollar settlements for a school sports injury lawsuit, while others do not successfully win a settlement when they file a lawsuit. In order to win a lawsuit, plaintiffs are required to prove that the school administration was negligent when it came to the care and well-being of the student. For example, if a coach told his students to play their football game without all pads because he could not find them, and one of the students is injured, then the family may have the right to sue.

Also, if a coach forces children to do difficult exercises and this results in a torn muscle, parents may have the right to sue in this situation. If the plaintiff cannot prove that the school administration was negligent, this may result in a dismissed case. Often with school sports lawsuits, it is difficult to negotiate around waivers that may have been a part of the enrollment process. Often parents sign waivers on behalf of their children that guarantee that they will not sue in the event that a child suffers grave injury at the school. While there may be ways around these waivers, it is often difficulty to discover the loopholes that would still allow the family to seek compensation.

Also, schools tend to cite similar cases as a reason why they don't need to go through with a case. For example, if you choose to try and seek compensation because your child was injured in the weight room before baseball practice, the school administration may use a prior case in a similar situation to their advantage and show how the outcome of that lawsuit was in favor of the school. Schools also use the argument of assumption of risk to explain why they should not be held liable for an accident that occurred.

When parents enroll their children in sports they argue that they have already assumed the risk of an injury because sports are so physical. If you want more information about lawsuits regarding school sports injuries, locate a personal injury attorney using this directory today!

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