What is Negligent Supervision?

Kids can sustain injuries in a wide variety of ways. Often, these injuries occur due to the actions of the kids themselves. After all, kids are kids, and they sometimes do things that adults find dangerous. However, there are times when children sustain injuries because they were not properly supervised. Here, we want to examine what “negligent supervision” means, as well as whether or not parents and guardians can recover compensation if a child is injured due to negligent supervision.

Understanding Negligent Supervision in North Carolina

Negligent supervision claims can arise in a wide variety of ways. Inevitably, parents will have to leave their children in the care of other supposedly responsible adults. This can include a wide range of individuals, including babysitters, daycare providers, coaches, teachers, camp counselors, youth group leaders, and more.

Negligent supervision claims can fall to these individual supervisors as well as the entities or agencies that they work for. This can include employers such as school districts, non-profit agencies, churches, companies, sports teams, and more.

Applying the Four Elements of Negligence

In order to determine the negligence of a supervisor, we must understand that there are four elements that need to be in place for a claim to be successful.

• Duty. It must be established that there was a duty of care owed by the defendant (the alleged negligent supervisor) to the plaintiff (the injured child and their parent or guardian). Generally, any type of arrangement with the individuals mentioned above and a child will establish a duty of care responsibility.
• Breach. After a duty of care is established between a supervisor and a child, it must be shown that the supervisor breached their duty of care in some way. This can occur in a wide variety of ways, including failing to properly monitor the child, allowing a child to engage in dangerous activities, failing to provide adequate supervision for children with physical or mental disabilities, not having enough staff to oversee children, and more.
• Causation. After establishing that a breach of duty occurred, it has to be shown that this breach directly caused a child’s injuries. For example, if the failure to monitor a child led to the child escaping into a roadway and getting struck by a vehicle, this would likely be enough to show causation.
• Damages. Lastly, the child and parents/guardians must have sustained some sort of monetary loss as a result of the breach of duty.

Can You Recover Compensation?

If your child has been injured as a result of the negligent supervision of another individual or entity, you need to reach out to an attorney as soon as possible. A skilled North Carolina child injury lawyer can get involved in the case immediately and begin gathering evidence needed to prove liability. This will include surveillance footage, statements from eyewitnesses, personnel or company records, medical reports, and more.

It is crucial for parents and guardians to be able to recover compensation for their child’s injuries, including compensation for medical bills, lost income if a parent cannot work, out-of-pocket expenses, pain and suffering damages, and more.

Give us a call today to speak with our Raleigh personal injury attorneys.