Negligent Supervision Claims: Childcare & Nursing Homes
Free Negligence Case Consult with Personal Injury Lawyers in Los Angeles
A daycare or nursing home may be liable if a child or resident gets hurt or injured because of inadequate supervision from a caregiver.
In most personal injury cases, one's careless or negligent action is the direct cause of another person's injury; however, in one subset of personal injury law, the lack of proper supervision is an indirect, but real cause (legally speaking) of an injury.
Types of negligent supervision claims typically arise in one of three settings:
- employment,
- childcare (including schools and daycare facilities), and
- long-term care (especially nursing homes and assisted living facilities)
What Is Negligent Supervision?
Negligent supervision is a fault or liability theory that can be utilized when a care provider falls short of meeting a legal duty to provide adequate supervision to those under their charge in a particular situation, and some kind of foreseeable harm results.
Negligent Supervision Claims of Children & Elderly
In a daycare, this may apply to a childcare provider who is absorbed in his phone instead of paying attention to a group of children on a playground, before a child suddenly suffers from a preventable injury.
Elderly residents in nursing homes and assisted living facilities are far more susceptible to injury than most.
For this reason, professionals working in these facilities – as well as the facilities themselves – are held to a high standard of care. When they fail to meet this standard, and a resident is injured or harmed, the facility may be liable in a personal injury lawsuit.
Negligent supervision claims rely on the fault theory of negligence, meaning that some slight variation of the following three (3) elements typically need to be established:
- the existence of a legal duty to properly supervise
- a breach of that duty, and
- a causation link between the breach and harm to a child/patient/resident.
Legal Duty of Childcare & Nursing Homes
Caregivers in a long-term or childcare facility have the duty to supervise and care for children and residents in their charge.
The precise duty may be set forth by a state or federal law, by contract, or by court decisions handed down over the years.
Everyone has a legal duty to act reasonably and avoid injuring other people. When people fail to meet this legal duty, they may be "liable" (or held responsible) for the harm they cause: This is a core principle of personal injury law.
The duty to act reasonably to avoid harming others is the duty of care that applies in most situations; California law imposes a higher duty of care in other situations as well.
Breach of Duty in Negligent Supervision
"Breach" refers to a caregiver's failure to provide a legally-mandated level of reasonable care.
It's important to note that a caregiver's duty is not absolute; The standard of care that's required will depend on what's reasonable under the circumstances, given factors such as:
- the number of patients/residents/students in the caregiver's charge,
- facility protocol, and
- the foreseeability of the incident or activity that led to the injury.
Linking Negligent Supervision to Injury
This is where things get a bit complicated; in order to succeed in a negligent supervision claim, a plaintiff must prove that the breach of duty is the cause of the harm suffered, which means establishing two kinds of causation:
- Actual causation. This is when the defendant's action (or inaction) actually caused the alleged harm.
- Proximate causation. This doesn't deal with the practical cause of an injury, but the actual, legal cause — meaning that it must be foreseeable that a defendant's breach of duty would cause injury to the plaintiff.
Need Help Proving Negligence in a Personal Injury Case?
If you're considering pursuing a personal injury claim based on harm that occurred while a child or elder person should've been better supervised, you should discuss your situation and options with an experienced personal injury lawyer.
Personal injuries can be traumatic, stressful experiences, and also cost time, money, and peace of mind.
Many people often downplay the necessity of hiring a personal injury attorney without realizing the advantages they can bring to you and your claim.
Any time you are injured as the result of someone else’s negligence, you may be entitled to compensation under California law.
Our Personal Injury Attorneys Can Help
If you or a loved one are experiencing a personal injury due to someone else’s negligence, you deserve an experienced personal injury lawyer by your side.
If you have been injured due to negligence, our dedicated personal injury attorneys will protect your legal rights and fight passionately to recover the compensation for the damages and suffering you've endured.
To learn more about proving negligence, seek legal advice, or have questions on how negligence applies to your case, please don't hesitate to contact our personal injury law firm any time.
For a free initial consultation and dedicated representation, reach out to us by phone at (323) 999-3500 or by email at office@gutierrez.legal.
Top Personal Injury Law Firm in Los Angeles
At Gutierrez Law, our dedicated lawyers have 40+ years of combined experience in handling personal injury cases, and will guide you through the legal process, while you focus on what matters: recovering from your damages and injuries.
Our responsibility is to make sure you feel as comfortable as possible throughout the entire process, and more importantly, to earn what you are entitled to for the damages and pain you've endured.
At the Law Offices of Oscar Gutierrez, we're fully equipped to handle your personal injury case matters, to fight and help you claim what's yours!
- 40+ Years of Experience
- Millions of Dollars Recovered
- Thousands of Cases Resolved