Following a daycare injury, you may be able to sue a daycare and its staff if misconduct led to a child’s injuries. Taking legal action could help prevent future occurrences and hold staff accountable for their actions. Learn more about legal options for parents after a daycare injury and the steps to take to build a case.
Table of Contents
If your child suffered an Illinois daycare injury, consult a Chicago daycare injury attorney today by calling Ankin Law at 312-600-0000.
When to Sue a Daycare
You might ask, “Can I sue if my child gets hurt at daycare?” Daycare facilities and staff must provide a safe environment for children at all times. In the event of an injury to a child, staff must report the injury to the child’s parents or legal guardians, their director or supervisor, or licensing agencies and Child Protective Services (CPS) if the incident is serious enough.
If your child sustains an injury and staff fail to properly report it, or if you suspect that staff caused the injury through negligence or abuse, you may have the chance to file a personal injury claim for a child to recover compensation from all liable parties.
Having an experienced daycare injury lawyer by your side could help you determine how to approach your case and seek total compensation from negligent or abusive staff.
Common Causes of Daycare Injuries in Illinois
There are several ways a daycare injury could occur. Common causes include:
Accidents Resulting from Negligence
Accidents happen at daycare facilities, but injuries could be the result of a caregiver’s negligence in some instances. If a child sustains an injury from an apparent accident, it could be a sign of negligence if the caregiver should have been aware of the injury and failed to report it.
Physical Abuse
Staff could physically abuse a child to cause injuries, including bruises, scrapes, cuts, fractured or broken bones, and burns. If you notice these injuries, the child expresses anxiety, fear, or another form of distress regarding the facility or caregivers, or the child’s explanation for the injuries differs from the caregiver’s explanation, these signs could indicate that physical abuse is taking place.
Emotional Abuse
A caregiver may cause intentional harm to a child through emotional abuse, hurting the child’s emotional well-being in various ways. For example, a caregiver may attempt to isolate a child as a form of punishment or bully or insult a child to harm his or her sense of self-worth.
Signs of this type of abuse include the child exhibiting depression, anxiety, or other psychological distress. Children suffering from emotional abuse may also isolate themselves and show a diminished interest in activities they previously enjoyed.
Sexual Abuse
Another form of abuse involves sexual activity, with some caregivers committing acts ranging from exposing a child to sexually explicit content to molestation and rape.
Children exhibiting signs of this type of abuse may have stained or ripped clothing, knowledge of sexual activities and topics that a child of that age should not know about, or other physical signs involving the child’s body, including injuries, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), or pregnancy.
If you believe a form of negligence or abuse has hurt your child, it’s important to take immediate action. Report injuries to local agencies like CPS or law enforcement, prompting an investigation into the child’s injuries to determine the cause. Using evidence gathered during this process, you may be able to take legal action against the facility or individuals responsible for injuries and damages.
Understanding Your Legal Options After a Daycare Injury
Following an Illinois daycare injury, parents and guardians may take legal action against the liable parties. Specifically, you would file a claim or a lawsuit against the facility, claiming that the facility or staff owed a duty of care to the injured child, that the liable party breached that duty of care, and that this breach led to injuries and other related damages to the child.
Recovering Compensation for Daycare Injuries
There are multiple types of compensation that individuals could recover in daycare injury claims, including:
- Economic Damages: These account for financial losses resulting from injuries, including medical costs, loss of earning capacity from disability, rehabilitative therapy, lost wages for parents, and out-of-pocket costs for special equipment and other related expenses.
- Non-economic Damages: In addition to economic damages, parents could recover non-monetary damages that cover pain and suffering, anxiety, depression, trauma, disfigurement, and other personal losses stemming from injuries.
- Punitive Damages: In more serious cases, you may seek punitive damages from abusive or grossly negligent caregivers and facilities. Only the courts can award these damages, which aim to punish defendants and prevent similar behavior from recurring.
Can Minors File a Claim After an Injury?
You may wonder, “Can a minor file a personal injury lawsuit in Illinois?” Like other types of cases, Illinois doesn’t allow minors to file lawsuits. While personal injury cases have a statute of limitations that gives plaintiffs a limited amount of time to file a lawsuit and seek compensation, that statute of limitations pauses or “tolls” if the victim is a minor.
In Illinois, the statute of limitations for personal injury cases is generally two years from the time of injury or discovery of injury, but that statute won’t apply until the child reaches the age of 18 and is able to consent to a case. That statute could also be delayed even longer if there are other conditions that prevent the victim from filing a suit, such as incapacitation or a defendant having left the state.
However, parents and legal guardians could file a personal injury claim on a child’s behalf while he or she is still a minor.
When to Call a Daycare Injury Lawyer in Illinois
The process of filing a daycare injury claim or lawsuit can be complicated, especially when a case involves serious injuries and high costs. If negligence or abuse caused your child’s injuries, it’s best to consult an experienced Chicago child injury lawyer. The right attorney could meet with you in a free consultation to discuss your options, reviewing the details of your case to determine whether you have a claim or suit.
If the attorney decides to handle your case, he or she could begin collecting evidence to prove liability, including surveillance footage from the facility, photos of injuries sustained, caregivers’ work and criminal history, proof of lost income, police reports, and medical records and bills. He or she could then organize that evidence to build a strong case against a facility or staff members, proceeding with either a claim or a lawsuit.
Additionally, the right lawyer can help calculate all related damages, including economic, non-economic, and punitive damages, counting them all toward a settlement amount. Doing so would help you recover the total amount of compensation your case is worth, ensuring you don’t negotiate for anything less.
Want help from an experienced personal injury lawyer? Contact us at Ankin Law today to schedule a free consultation and find out what we can do for you.
