Skilled Daycare Injury Attorney in Virginia
You Trust the Daycare Center and Its Staff to Keep Your Child Safe While You Work and Take Care of Your Home. Our Daycare Injury Lawyers Look Out for Your Family When Those You Entrusted Your Kids With Fail Your Loved One.
Nearly 60 percent of children ages five and younger spend at least a portion of their time in a “nonparental care arrangement” before kindergarten. For most of these children, 62%, this means they spend part of the day or week at a daycare center, preschool, or prekindergarten, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Another 20% of children in this group receive nonrelative care (i.e., daycare in a private home by someone unrelated to them).
This data reflects that working parents depend on daycare centers and entrust these facilities with the health and well-being of their young children. In addition, working parents rely on daycare centers to keep their older school-aged children safe in before and after school programs and during day camps during the summer, winter, or spring breaks.
As a parent or legal guardian, you have a reasonable expectation that a daycare center will take appropriate measures to keep your child or children safe. Unfortunately, some childcare facilities fail to meet this expectation. Preventable accidents are common at daycare centers in Virginia, including those near our offices in Richmond, Chesterfield County, Midlothian, Henrico, and Newport News.
When your child suffers a severe injury due to negligence at the childcare center or emotional trauma due to sexual assault by a daycare employee, you have grounds to take legal action against the daycare center and get financial restitution for the damages.
Contact a daycare injury lawyer at Corey Pollard Law to schedule a confidential, no-cost case evaluation and learn more about your legal remedies. Call (804) 251-1620 or complete this online form.
Types of Injuries Suffered in Daycare Accidents
Common types of injuries and harms suffered by children at daycare centers include the following:
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- Physical abuse
- Sexual assault
- Broken or fractured bones
- Allergic reaction
- Choking
- Drowning
- Poisoning
- Sprains
- Burns
- Electrocution
- Death
These types of injuries and harms can occur due to an array of factors, including:
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- Improper training of daycare staff
- Insufficient staffing
- Faulty playground equipment or toys
- Dangerous conditions
- Improperly maintained facilities
- Failure to conduct proper background checks and allowing predatory individuals around children
- Inadequate security
- Negligent driving when taking the children on field trips or to and from school
- Negligent supervision of the children
- Lack of emergency preparedness
- Violations of Title 22.1 of the Code of Virginia for Early Childhood Care and Education centers
Proving the Daycare Center is Liable for Your Child’s Injury or Death
You may have a viable personal injury claim against the daycare center’s owner and negligent employees if your child is hurt or killed while at the facility (including in-home care operators, individual caretakers, and day camps).
Daycare Duty of Care
To win a negligence lawsuit (or an intentional tort like assault or battery) against a daycare center, you and your Virginia daycare injury lawyer must offer evidence of four legal elements:
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- The daycare owed a duty of care to your child, which means that the daycare center was responsible for the safety and well-being of your child.
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- The daycare center breached its duty of care, failing to fulfill its legal responsibility to care for your child properly. Various acts or omissions may breach the daycare’s duty of care to your child.
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- The breach was responsible for causing your child’s injury.
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- The injury, or injuries, suffered by your child resulted in significant harm and losses to both you and your child. This harm may be physical, mental, or emotional.
Identifying Causation of Your Child’s Injuries
As mentioned, along with establishing a duty of care, you and your daycare injury attorney must prove that the daycare center proximately caused your child’s injuries.
In the personal injury context, the concept of causation generally requires the plaintiff (i.e., you) to present sufficient evidence showing that your child would not have been injured if it were not for the negligent or careless actions of the daycare facility.
A skilled and knowledgeable Virginia daycare injury lawyer can help establish negligence and recover financial restitution for your harms and losses.
For example, your Virginia daycare injury attorney can request any surveillance video footage from the daycare facility, depose daycare staff, and review all relevant medical records and incident reports. This investigation of the daycare center may look for a pattern of mistakes or past government agency reports that put the daycare on notice it should have taken precautions.
Financial Restitution for Your Child’s Harms and Losses
You likely feel devastation and anger because a preventable accident at the daycare facility or abuse left your child hurt and sad.
The law recognizes the harms and losses can be extensive, and your child’s recovery against the daycare center may include payment for the following:
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- Physical pain and suffering
- Medical expenses (e.g., ER visits, hospital stays, prescriptions, medical equipment, physical therapy, psychological services, etc.)
- Permanent mental trauma
- Emotional anguish
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Disability or disfigurement
These are just some of the harms and losses associated with daycare injuries. As long as your child’s damages are related to the daycare incident, they may be eligible for financial restitution.
In addition, you may recover punitive damages against the daycare center if its behavior shows a reckless disregard for your child’s safety.
Will the Daycare Center Offer to Settle the Injury Claim?
Maybe.
Once you file a personal injury lawsuit on your child’s behalf, a negligent daycare facility may be open to paying a settlement instead of going to court. For context, a settlement is a lump sum paid voluntarily to resolve a legal dispute outside of court. If you choose to accept a settlement, then you agree to no longer pursue a civil lawsuit. If you decline to settle, the daycare injury case will go to court.
Most civil lawsuits settle before a jury trial.
A skilled and knowledgeable daycare injury lawyer will evaluate your child’s case for settlement purposes and negotiate a lump sum payment to account for the injuries and consequences.
How Long Do I Have to Sue the Daycare Center for Negligence or an Intentional Tort? Take Action Sooner Rather Than Later
Legal claims have different time limits for filing a legal action. This temporal restriction is known as the statute of limitations.
According to Virginia Code § 8.01-243, you have two years from the injury date to file a civil action claiming personal injuries. However, certain exceptions may extend the statutory period, particularly when a minor is injured in a preventable accident.
To properly gauge the time you have to file a daycare injury lawsuit, schedule a free consult with an experienced Virginia daycare injury attorney.
As a general rule of thumb, we advise against waiting to pursue your daycare injury case. Why? Because as time passes, it can become more challenging to obtain relevant evidence associated with the harm your child suffered.
In many instances, daycare centers waste little time in contacting licensing agents to come in and write a report assessing whether there is proof that your child was injured under the care of the facility. Being proactive and and hiring a skilled and respected Virginia personal injury attorney to advocate for you levels the playing field.
Missing the statute of limitations can end your lawsuit before it begins, so you should speak to a daycare injury attorney sooner rather than later. It could result in you and your child receiving nothing despite the daycare center’s negligence or heinous acts.
Have Questions About Your Legal Options Following a Preventable Daycare Accident? Contact an Experienced Daycare Injury Attorney
If your child was seriously injured while at a daycare center, then now is the time to schedule a free consultation with Corey Pollard Law.
During the consultation, our law firm will take the time to address your questions, assess what happened, and discuss your legal options. Then, if we accept representation, our experienced daycare injury attorneys will develop your case’s theory, build the evidence, and work to deliver a favorable result for you and your child.
Contact us today to schedule a no-cost, confidential consultation. You can reach us at (804) 251-1620 or (757) 810-5614. If we agree to represent you and your child, you pay no fees unless and until you win compensation.
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