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?

Sorry your daughter was injured .
My 4 year old nephew suffered a bad spiral fracture to his leg at a soft play last year , 6 weeks in hospital in traction , 3 months in a fixed hip cast . No ones fault. He ran , slipped and twisted . Surgeons said just unlucky . Soft play is pretty safe but accidents like his happen .
His has one leg shorter than the other now.

Just to reiterate. The actual loss which can be claimed can be the injury itself and the after effects of it. Monetary loss incurred as a result (eg time off work for an adult) are compensated under a separate heading.

When the op knows what happened and whether there was any negligence involved, and what the long term effects will be on her DD, she can make the decision about suing then.

If there is negligence and if the injury has longer term consequences, of course the op should sue and it isn't compensation culture to suggest it - this is precisely what compensation is for. Compensation culture in the sneary way used in this thread should be people who have an accident with no ill effects who suddenly discover an injury when the claim goes in.

I'm sorry your daughter was injured and agree you should get the facts and make your decision. It doesn't have to be right now.

We sued a holiday resort on behalf of our daughter after a bad accident that could have been prevented. The money doesn't make up for the pain or disfigurement but we felt that was the decision we should make on her behalf as she was only 5 at the time.

Hope your daughter recovers well.

yaasqueen um have you read the thread? Her child might not regain movement in her finger and had surgery. OP is entitled to be upset. Have some damn empathy.

Poor thing I hope she makes a full recovery!
Unfortunately you can plan, prepare and risk assess all you like, you cannot take the risk out of life! Accidents happen.
If you do think that you have a case to sue then you need to think long and hard. If your daughter is left seriously injured requiring support that has to be paid for or you've had to take lots and lots of unpaid time off work then fair enough perhaps you do need to try and recoup some of the money.
If however you're just after a bit of cash for a holiday or to pop in a savings account for her then I think yabvu.
People doing this sort of thing are slowly squeezing the job out of life. If you sue, do you really think next years pupils will get a trip to the farm?... No they won't. Do you think the farmer will ever open his farm up to a school group again?... No fucking chance...

I am farmer, my BIL has a teacher friend who asked to bring her kids to the farm once. I took one look at all the forms and stuff they wanted me to sign and pulled out.
I said, you're welcome to bring them but it's a working farm. I'll do my best to make the areas you want to visit safe but at the end of the day you need to control them and make sure of their safely. The pen pushers at the school said no so the trip never happened which is a shame because scarcely a week goes by without friends and family visiting with kids (especially this time of year) and they absolutely love it.

As for going back to school it is really not a huge thing, schools manage this all the time.

There's no rush. When my son had the same injury the surgeon put on a split cast until the inflammation had reduced. He said he wasn't to return to school until he had a full cast on, ten days after surgery.

The OP's DD will have k-wires protruding from her elbow, they are covered with a dressing but until the full cast goes on they are a little vulnerable.

OP, perhaps as the inflammation reduces your DD will recover the sensation in her finger. My son was referred for physio as soon as his cast and k-wires were removed. He was discharged after one visit and two years on he only has the scars from the k-wires to show for it all.

You have a few years to decide, so just leave it for now and see how she progresses. If there is lasting damage and someone was at fault then I would claim compensation for her.

My DS had the Same injury at a soft play birthday party. He went back to school A week later when the proper cast was applied.

Who are you going to sue? A school for not walking and being able to catch every child in a soft play or the farm????

This is an accident !

I'm not at all sure about schools managing the risk. When my son broke his leg falling off a climbing frame, the school said they couldn't have him in school, whilst he was using a wheelchair, unless there was someone with him all the time. They refused to divert a teaching assistant to help him specifically.

If my 5 yr old broke her arm in the circumstances you have described, suing would, quite frankly, be the last thing on my mind.

And I used to be a PI lawyer!!

I'm bewildered how so many posters seem so certain this was 'just an accident' when the OP doesn't even know quite what happened.
Maybe it was just an accident but maybe the school or the farm were negligent.

The equipment could be faulty or poorly maintained or the kids could not be being supervised. What if the farm had actually acted irresponsibly and not bothered to fix some faulty equipment or something? Would posters still be so adamant that the OP shouldn't take further action?
Without the facts it's impossible for anyone to say.

The same rules don't apply to children as to adults for PI claims. Children have much longer as the time limit doesn't start to apply until after they are 18 so in terms of time frames there is no problem in waiting.

I would look at it two ways

1. It appears play supervision was inadequate, this could be down to teachers or the softplay area. I hate softplays I think they are poorly maintained, dirty and overused.

1. It is a serious injury that could have longer term impact in terms of loss of movement

Personally I think there does need to be some proper investigation of what happened now so that there is a record. You can then choose to make a decision to take action now or leave it until she is older and you know the outcomes.

Claiming for PI is a balance, accidents do happen but if they happen because of people's negligence or carelessness then they need to be followed up as someone is at fault and if they had done things differently then no injury would have occurred. If it has lifelong consequences then I think it is serious enough to progress so at least what and whyit happened is proprly documented and if your DD wants to take action when she is 18 she can.

I do hope your daughter is recovering.

Anyone whose child is injured while in the care of the school will have questions, and feel concerned. If someone breached their duty of care, then you are not being unreasonable in bringing a claim, because they have failed to meet the legal standard expected of them. Very few solicitors would accept your instructions unless they felt you were more likely than not to establish a breach of duty of care. I am a solicitor, and am happy to chat through your options with you. Alternatively, you can use the Law Society's find a solicitor service.

I think accidents just happen. You can't keep an eye on children 100% of the time. If it had been dad taking her to the park or farm would you sue daddy cuz he took his eye off her for a minute? I think a lot of people are to quick to try and sue everyone for things beyond their control. No one forced her to play.

YAVBU!!!
I HATE this chav habit of trying to benefit financially from accidents... your kid broke her arm (probably doing something she should not have been doing, or being careless)
Flashbacks and trauma my arse!!

You just want a fast buck.
Shame on you and others like you.

HATE these ambulance chasers.

I'm so sorry your daughter was hurt and hope she recovers well but accidents will happen, even before everyone became so eager to sue. As our society follows America's lead in becoming so litigious our children shall be wrapped in cotton wool and never enjoy varied experiences to support their learning, as everybody will be so nervous about being sued.

It is because of people like this that options for days out with the kids are getting less and less common!

All these PI claims can bankrupt a small business. Yes they may be insured, but after just one claim their next year's renewal premium can skyrocket, making it hard to justify running the business.

This is a kids farm not Disney.
Get a grip and go distract your daughter, that is the best way for her to get over this.
Lord the accidents we had as kids! No one even thought of personal injury claims!

She is not paralysed or blinded, it's just a broken arm! Cast will be off by the time this thread ends!!

Ms Hoolie: ODFOD. If, and I know it's a big if, OP's daughter has been injured as a result of someone's negligence, with the possibility of permanent disfigurement, she's perfectly entitled to compensation. It's not enriching her, it's making up for pain, shock, inconvenience, and possible long term effects on her livelihood

As has been asked upthread, if you or your child were seriously injured in a car accident that was solely down to someone's negligent driving, would you not claim?

Since when were options for days out with children less common? Do you have any evidence at all for that assertion? As has again been pointed out, claims against schools for this type of injury in fact have a very low rate of success and manifestly neither schools nor the people running this type of venue are being driven out of business; insurance premiums really are not that high, even after a claim.

You really need to check your facts.

...she did say something about not holding on properly and she fell
This is part of op's second post.
Sounds like the only thing the farm were negligent in was failing to supply a one to one personal assistant to trail around the park snarling at op's child to be careful every time she blinked.
Or blanketing the entire (working, remember!) farm in bubble wrap so that people "not holding on" could fall with impunity.

This thread is excellent for a round of mumsnet bingo.

I hope you daughter heals fast and completely, OP.

Suing the farm?? For what,?? Being kind enough to trust the school to have your child on their premises so they can broaden their education and become a better rounded person ?

Children fall over and have accidents, that's what happens and if people keep suing schools and farms etc we won't have an education system left!!

I really hope your daughter is feeling a lot better, why not wait and see what happened, faulty equipment? Negligent staff? DD has already said she wasn't holding on properly, you can not prevent a real accident that is why it is called an accident. My eldest dislocated her knee and ruptured her crucia ligament when she was 12 yrs old playing sports, no ones fault it just happened, maybe I should have sued as it has cost a bloody fortune in Osteopath bills over the last 8 yrs and she still has problems to date, BUT it was an accident so in my mind her getting better was way more important to me than fighting a court case for maybe very little monetary recompense I would make sure your daughter is well and then look at blame, listen to your daughter though

It's a difficult one, but I think I'd take it as an accident. Unless something was faulty or had fallen on top of her or something. A friends daughter fell off her sofa and broke her wrist, so things do happen if a fall is awkward. I hope your daughter gets better soon.

Wow, there's a lot of ignorance on this thread.

I agree that you have plenty of time OP. You clearly need to find out what happened. There may be grounds for suing. As for 'what for', it depends on the little girl's recovery. Before I switched horses to non litigious work, I was a personal injury lawyer for around 15 years, dealing with all sorts of cases, including a lot of cases involving children. More serious than this sounds (very severe accidents or medical negligence), but the principles are the same.

If, after investigation, there is found to be something lacking in the farm's procedures that caused or contributed to the accident, then, depending on the injury and whether there will be any long term effects, it would be a good idea to get some legal advice.

I've seen lots of children with seemingly innocent injuries end up having years of after care and/or being affected in some detrimental way for the foreseeable.

Some people are being ridiculously inflammatory on here. Of course the OP wants to do the right thing by her child, and, shock horror, that might, at some point in the future, involve taking legal action on her behalf.

I would do the same, in fact, I suspect most of the nay sayers on here would to, if they were in the same position.