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?

It's an accident! Why would you do anything else? Whilst awful for you and your poor dd, nobody is at fault. The teacher has 30 other children to look after and unfortunately accidents happen. Why would she not be able to go back to school with a plan/risk assessment in place? My son has major health/medical needs and goes to school every day. It's just one of those awful accidents that happen. I hate the blame culture. Hope your DD recovers soon.

What would be gained by suing? You have obviously all had a horrible time, and every sympathy to the poor little girl, but unless you have massive medical bills to cover (which you haven't mentioned) all you would get is money...and the farm or school or both would be worse off with higher insurance premiums, or have to find the money themselves.

Omg. Seriously. People have insurance for this reason because accidents happen. The mum won't get a bank load of money it will be held in an account until her poor little one is 18 and then at least from this traumatic possibly life changing event at least she can have a little kickstand in life. I.e driving lessons. Uni. Etc. At the end of the day I can see fault in both the school and the farm the platform should not be left open causing potential risks. And if the child is on a school trip I believe there should be an adult present for so many children 3/5 cannot remember which. And if that school doesn't have the appropriate supervision then the trip should not take place because it isn't SAFE. so yes go ahead and claim. No you ate defiantly not bu. And these donuts that think otherwise are just taking a ride on the igh horse. I bet if they were in ur position and had an optin to give there child a headstrong in life because of a very unfortunate accident they would do it.

And for the other claiming she can go to school. Maybe she's in to much pain and afraid someone will bump her arm. Maybe it's her arm/hand that she writes with. MAYBE just MAYBE she's a little 5 year old who is to bloody traumatised to even think about the school

This isn't anything about suing but your dds school trips

Maybe if when the next trip comes along if she's still not wanting to go on one you could possibly speak to the teachers and ask if you could go. I'm sure the school would understand, that is an awful thing to happen to someone at such a young age, well at any age really. to you and your dd

Take some proper legal advice. If you need specialist treatment for her injuries this may be quicker to access if you make a claim because if someone admits liability ( school &/or farm) their insurers may fund private treatment & rehab as it's in their interests to get her better as quickly as possible. You have 3 yrs to make a claim but seems to me there might be good reasons for accessing advice sooner rather than later. My firm does this kind of work so if you wanted more details send me a message. I would expect you to get an honest assessment of prospects of success at an early stage & only then can you decide whether to take it further. You may have insurance to fund a claim on your household insurance (legal expenses insurance). It's worth checking. Even if not no win no fee type arrangements are usually available. Hope your lo gets better soon. You need to do what's best for her.

Take some proper legal advice. If you need specialist treatment for her injuries this may be quicker to access if you make a claim because if someone admits liability ( school &/or farm) their insurers may fund private treatment & rehab as it's in their interests to get her better as quickly as possible. You have 3 yrs to make a claim but seems to me there might be good reasons for accessing advice sooner rather than later. My firm does this kind of work so if you wanted more details send me a message. I would expect you to get an honest assessment of prospects of success at an early stage & only then can you decide whether to take it further. You may have insurance to fund a claim on your household insurance (legal expenses insurance). It's worth checking. Even if not no win no fee type arrangements are usually available. Hope your lo gets better soon. You need to do what's best for her.

Just to say that I can empathise with you completely as eldest child had a big fracture 2 years ago and I know how stressful it can be .
I would wait to see what the school investigation says but first of all discuss whether it is appropriate for her to go back to school with medical staff / GP if you can and maybe do half days initially if you can . Another thing is that time is a good healer and I was told that my daughters leg would never grow after a massive injury and two years later her height has increased by 17cms . I wish you luck and it is early days in the recovery .

I am fairly sure that you have 2 years to bring a case ( but check with a solicitor as I am not one ) and wish you lots of luck

I'm sorry about your DD's accident OP. I agree that the answer to your question depends on whether the farm and/or the school were negligent.

I was recently at a petting farm / play park type place with my DCs, and a school group were there at the same time. There were several trampolines (outdoors) with signs on them saying '1 child at a time'. The TAs or parent helpers (not sure which) ignored the signs and let 2 or 3 children on at a time. I did think, hmmm, hope there are no accidents. If there had been a serious accident, for example one child landing on another child's neck, then those adults would have been partially responsible.

To bring court action it's three years from an accident with a definite date. For a child, that three year clock doesn't start ticking until their 18th birthday.

However, that's for court proceedings; if this turns out to need investigating, you should do it sooner rather than later, ie don't, for example, wait a year or two before investigating.

Please do go and see a solicitor when you are entirely happy to do so. When your daughter is better/well on the way to getting better. I used to do half hour free legal appts, which basically took as long as they took.

The people who have said that any compensation awarded would be for the child's future are correct, it would be kept in a trust for them until they are of age.

I do hope however, that she has no long lasting effects and you don't need to do any of that! Good luck.

Haven't read whole thread, but please don't worry too much at this stage. Of course she got an awful fright, but she will recover from that with time. And young bones heal well, although she may need physio when the cast comes off. I went to 'hand therapy' 3 times a week for months after breaking my wrist, but gradually the nerves recovered, and little ones heal well. If she had an operation and anaesthetic then she does need a bit of time to recover, but presumably she will be put into a full cast when the swelling goes down and then she should be fit for school again. Within about a week, the bones have already started to knit together, and the pain should subside. Wait until the school produces a report on what actually happened, and don't be fobbed off without clear answers. But I would say forget about suing for now, and only do it if it is absolutely clear that someone was negligent and / or the arm doesn't recover properly and she is left with a disability.

I have RTWT, time is a great healer, see where your little one is in 12 months, court cases are draining. OP, you are upset, angry, confused, protective. Focus on your little one. Forget claims for at least 12 months. Accidents do happen, 'back in the day' they happened all the time and folks just got on with life. And yes , I am 150 years old

Wait for the facts from school. Meanwhile checkout the venue yourself. It would only be negligence if the child was in an inappropriate (for age) area of soft play or inadequately supervised .This should all be on the risk assessment. Get well soon little one

cat1984 something similar happened to my daughter on her final nursery trip - she had just turned 5. She is 15 now but her life hasnt been affected by it - it spoiled her last summer before school started but I would never have dreamed of suing the nursery or the place she was visiting - it was an accident. She was being supervised. But to be fair if you really think about it a child could break their arm while out with their mum at a play park being supervised!

I really empathise with this as my daughter has 4 pins in her arm and a rather large scar - she also can't completely straighten her arm - but is still passing all her ballet exams and does all the usual stuff!

Do try and get her back to school after a week or so rest!

She will thank you for it! Xx

d if the child is on a school trip I believe there should be an adult present for so many children 3/5 cannot remember which. And if that school doesn't have the appropriate supervision then the trip should not take place because it isn't SAFE. so yes go ahead and claim

I'm sorry but that is utter nonsense. A 1 to 2 ratio would be WELL over the legal requirement and wouldn't necessarily have stopped this happening.

As far as I can see there are several scenarios

1. The play equipment was missing a safety rail - farm at fault
2. The play equipment was in perfect condition but not age appropriate - school at fault
3. The play equipment was in perfect condition and age appropriate and your daughter simply fell off the equipment - accident

In reality even in the event of point 1 or 2 I wouldn't be interested in taking action, rather speaking to either the farm/school and ensuring this didn't happen again.

Hope your daughter feels better soon

This is why we dont let people on our land.

People like this spoil it for everyone

Its things like this that makes teachers and schools decide that trips are just too much hassle. If you sue the farm, they will probably close. If you sue the school, they probably won't take any more children on trips. Its a shame that children will end up having less fun in their childhoods.

If you sue the farm, they will probably close. If you sue the school, they probably won't take any more children on trips

I work in the sector, seeing hundreds of school trips & activities and associated claims. I have never seen or heard of a school cancelling trips because an incident happened.

It may be an accident or there may be negligence. We don't know. OP won't know until it is investigated.

My daughter also broke her arm at a farm when she was three, I'd left her to go up a ladder and gone to the end of the slide to meet her, she fell off of the ladder. Sometimes accidents happen and it's nobody's fault. It was my fault ----
I hope your daughter feels better soon.

I ment one adult to either 3children or5 children not 1adult to every 2 children. Jeez.

Why would you assume a risk assessed school trip didn't have adequate supervision, becky? Op has made no mention of the trip being under supervised; just that her dd fell as she wasn't holding on and op is sure this can be blamed on someone else.

i hope your little one is fine but its an accident not everything is a compensation claim .my son broke his wrist in a soft play he fell it happens .

I ment one adult to either 3children or5 children not 1adult to every 2 children. Jeez

That was my point......even if the ratio WAS 1 adult to 2 children you cannot prevent incidents happening.

There is no mention in the OP of there not being adequte supervision.

But - you'd have to be pretty bloody dynamite to catch a child falling off play equipment even if they had your sole and undivided attention

I said IF the school didn't have appropriate supervision I didn't say it definitely didn't. No you can't prevent accidents happening. But maybe in this case it could have been prevented. U can't 100%say it would of happen regardless of a b and c being different. But sorry I obviously got the wrong end of the stick unless I agree with certain people I am not allowed to voice an opinion.

And op didn't say she was sure this can be blamed on someone else. She asked for advice and opinions. And maybe if a 5year old was being closely watched in a play area someone would have said 'hold on and play nice whatever the name or come down from there'