To claim compensation against a farm?

[Cat1984]

My 5 year old dd broke her arm badly at a school trip to the farm over a week ago and had to be operated on and now has wires holding her bones in place at the elbow, she has no movement in her index finger on her right arm and me and her school are trying to decide whether or not to let her go back to school. She's really traumatised by it all and keeps having flashbacks and getting upset, she even told me she never wants to go on another school trip. I've been told by a few people that I should sue the school or farm or claim compensation but I'm not sure about it because I'm so drained and exhausted my brain is barely working atm. WIBU to put in a claim?

I knew a little girl who broke her leg whilst falling down the second to bottom carpeted step of her staircase at home. Should her parents be sued for negligence?

My own dd knocked out two teeth by tripping over her own feet and falling against the safety gate we had put in place to protect her little brother. Does that mean I am no longer a fit parent?

Obviously suing is inappropriate in either case because, guess what, you haven't been negligent. I haven't seen anyone on here suggesting that you should sue irrespective of whether you can demonstrate negligence. Our system is set up so that there are adequate disincentives in place by virtue of the risk of an adverse costs order.

My DS broke his finger at nursery - nobody was to blame but he was covered by insurance - surely the school would have some insurance?

BTW I would also be looking at whether she will have ongoing problems. I broke my arm which resulted in a permanent disability but I didn't have insurance and was seriously out of pocket. This would affect my response to the matter. Hope she doesn't have problems though!

The stunningly original phrase "Accidents happen" or variants thereof has been used no less than 23 times on this thread - and that's taking a pretty charitable interpretation of some posts and leaving out posts that disagree that that's a complete answer to anything.

Yes, accidents happen. So what? Does the victim always have to suck it up, no matter how careless the other person has been and no matter how serious their injuries are? If there is a dividing line between when you should and shouldn't sue, where precisely does it fall? Does it occur to any of these caring parents that if your child receives serious injuries as a result of someone's negligence, you are in fact failing them if you don't secure their future by claiming the compensation the law says they're entitled to?

Manifestly schools haven't been made paranoid by the risk of parents suing as demonstrated by (1) the very low success rate of such claims and (2) the fact that school trips of this type still happen in their thousands.

You sound very traumatised and distressed which is completely understandable. I think you need to focus on the here and now; recovery for your DD and coming to terms with her needs is the short term. All the rest can wait. This is new to you and clearly very upsetting. I wish your DD a speedy recovery and hope she does regain movement.

Many aspects of this thread that show why AIBU is not a place that demonstrates the MN Philosophy if you are stressed, confused and have serious questions to explore.

Still but why wouldn't you sue?

As mentioned, an accident could be the result of negligence.

For all anyone knows, the OP's daughter could have fell off because the bar or whatever she was holding onto may have been rusty, not fit for purpose. That's negligent. And if her injury has a life long impact where she finds it painful/difficult to perform everyday tasks (sincerely hope not) then why shouldn't she be compensated?

Of course it may be a natural accident and hopefully it will heal perfectly in which case suing would be inappropriate.

But don't you think the OP needs to find out exactly how the accident took place?

Seems a bit to just simply say "It was an accident, get on with it" and insinuate that suing is wrong.

Shakey we don't know the exact details, I'm responding by saying I wouldn't chase the farm or the school, based on what is in the OP.

"5 year old child fell in the soft play area and badly breaks her arm*

I wouldn't pursue it because it I'm inclined to think it was an accident but I'm not the Mother involved here.

Op just go to the daily mail with your best sad face

How could it possibly be considered the farm's fault; that your dd fell awkwardly in the soft play section?!
One of the Year 6's in our school broke their elbow on the PGL trip last week, within an hour of arrival... The child was gutted to miss the holiday, but nobody even imagined it was anybody's fault.
Hope your dd recovers soon.

Also try to get perspective. Your dd broke her arm. It's a fairly minor thing. People on here have kids going through treatment for cancer.

allegreto. If nobody was to blame for your ds's broken finger; they shouldn't have entertained your claim for compensation just because they were covered by insurance.
What did you need compensation for? Don't you usually have to provide evidence of actual material loss that needs compensating?

Bear in mind you can break a bone with a very light fall just depending how you land. I have fallen off dozens of horses in my time and never suffered more than bruises and hurt ego but broke my hand really badly (will never be "right) doing housework - leaned over the end of the sofa to pick something up and somehow over balanced, put hand out to save myself and there was a large crack and lots of swearing, actually shocked teenage son in next room! ...and no I wasn't drunk! :-)
Also suing remember suing may well backfire. You will not endear yourself to the school and possibly other parents as well if they get to hear. Worse case senario, could cause problems for your child and you find it necessary to move school, so consider carefully before you make a move. Just saying.

Missed this earlier nugget Does it occur to any of these caring parents that if your child receives serious injuries as a result of someone's negligence, you are in fact failing them if you don't secure their future by claiming the compensation the law says they're entitled to?

She's 5 and has broken her arm, nasty accident but does her Mum need to secure her future because of this?

Accidents happen. You don't need to sue anyone. If anyone is "at fault" it's the school and not the farm. She fell off something- what do you think is wrong in that situation? It's an innocent mistake. Maybe the school should have supervised her more thoroughly but 5 year olds fall over. I hope she gets better soon. Focus on that not attempting a lengthy, costly and pointless legal battle in an attempt to squeeze money out of a business.

It's very distressing when your child has a bad accident, no-one likes to see their child in pain. I hope she recovers quickly.

My son slashed his artery in the garden when he was 5, slashed his wrist right through to the bone, it was horrifying! He had major surgery on his right hand and was in plaster/splints for 6 months unable to move his fingers. He went back to school, learnt to write with his left hand and everyone was fantastic of taking care around him. I was in bits for much longer than he was! He had physio regularly and his hand was back in full use within a year. Children heal well and are remarkably resilient. Now it's just a gory story and a fab scar to show his friends.

The same child got knocked over by a car on the way to school when he was 8. Even sitting at the side of the road waiting for an ambulance people were muttering about suing the driver. Very distasteful. It was dim light, pouring with rain and probably as much my sons fault as the drivers. I got her number from the police and called her to tell her he was ok. Poor woman was distraught.

Accidents happen, sometimes it's just noones fault. Don't worry about it now, just get her better and back in school as quickly as possible and sort the rest out later.

I totally agree with WellErrr, it is really horrid for your dd and yourself, but it sounds like just an accident, they happen, human error and all that.

If it is a "human error" ( letting them onto play equipment meant for older children), that human is responsible, and possibly liable. I'd try to get to the bottom of what happened.

When my son broke his arm at school playing "it" I accepted it as an accident.

But say he'd been injured in a setting that wasn't appropriate for his age, I might have sued (if I had genuinely believed there was negligence involved)

So await the report. Then think about it.

Op says a children's soft play area. I imagine it would have passed safety regulations for a 5 year old. A 5 year old can fall over without any help from "faulty equipment".

Yes but we don't know if any equipment was broken or unsuitable

OP will need to find out!

My DD3 broke her ankle falling from a roundabout thing up at the children's play area in our local park. She fell no distance. She just got off it a bit too fast and didn't pull her foot out of the foot hold on it. She was 10 at the time.

It was just an accident. I would never have even considered suing the parish council over it. She was a child just blasting from one thing to the next, as they do.

I hope that your DD heals quickly OP. Children often do. It does sound like just an unfortunate accident.

I had a similar accident myself in Paris earlier this year (February) and badly broke my right arm, needing surgery. I still have ongoing problems and some failure of the bone to heal properly. I won't be suing though. It was an accident, everyone was very helpful and I really appreciated them for that.

I have severe reservations about this creeping "sue and compensation" culture as some others up-thread have already said.

oh don't be ridiculous. compensation for what?

I think the reason most are saying accidents happen and don't sure and such without knowing the full story is that by the snippets we have, it seems OP is being encouraged to sue for a genuine accident. All we know is the child fell..the child says she wasn't holding on properly, this was in a soft play area, and that the parent thinks it is reasonable to expect a teacher (1 on 1 with the children it seems) to chase her child around a play area on the offchance she may fall. These things together kinda make it seem its just compensation hunting and/or expecting far too much of the school.

I am quite sure if it turns out the play area is not fit for purpose or it turns out the teachers were sat having a sneaky pint instead of watching the children then she would have nothing but support from all (bar a couple of trolls) on here. It just does not seem from what we know that ANYONE was at fault here.

As such, shit happens replies should be expected surely? Not encouragement to carry on down the suing route with no proof either organization did anything wrong?

*don't sue not don't sure. I wish there was an edit post button on here

OP, you need to fact find, as said.

I've seen groups of Nursery and School children that have been allowed to get over boisterous and there's been bumped heads etc, with correct control, it wouldn't have happened.

Likewise, at this point, no-one knows what the flooring was, under the play equipment.

Focus on getting your DD back to school, read the accident report and see what the conclusion is. Then consider if you have any further questions.

When I was a child, there were lots of accidents, people didn't accept the findings and things got safer. A bit like not accepting child injuries in a Car, so seats were introduced.

This might have been an genuine accident, there might be things that could have been done to prevent it. I'd put that on the 'to do' list, rather than worry about it, this week.