Child injured at School

[Aqua1111]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Arkansas

My 13 yo child was leaving the school locker room Tuesday-last week when another child ran into the locker room from the other side. The forceful impact of the door broke two of my child's front teeth, other problems may also be surfacing based upon progressing symptoms. Only the two teeth injured were x-rayed last week, and we are being scheduled to have a panoramic and skull x-ray to assess additional damage.

The school accident insurance plan will cover $100/tooth lifetime benefit. Google search from reliable sources state the lifetime care of a broken tooth can be $18K/tooth.

This child is well known to be a bully in the school and comes from a troubled home. The school is not able to discipline in this accident, however, the 13 yo child went on to palm another student 3 days after my child's accident. The "bully" shared with her classmates that after she was spoken to about the palming, a normal student would get 3-5 days in school suspension. As this occurred on Friday, we were sure she would be in ISS on Monday, but she was attending regular classes.

The school is a small rural school. The parent of the "bully" is a single mom, known by the community to be very intimidating herself. The "bully" came up to me, after practice on Thursday, to say she was sorry about what happened to my child, with a slight smile on her face. I told this child she needed to learn to control herself. While leaving school, 5 minutes later, her mother cut me off in the parking lot, asked about my child, got my daughter's take on the accident, admitted her child was probably "barreling through the door" and then left to pick up her child. The "bully" told her mother I approached her, chewed her out, and began annoying her. Her mother said, according to student witnesses, (one of which was to be the palming victim the next day) "how dare her speak to you, before she has spoken with me, that *itch." So you see the mentality of the people I am dealing with. This child is out of control and the school is not able to appropriately address the problem and my child has/is suffering from this.

In regards to my child's accident: It is apparent this much pressure need not be placed on the door to open it. I checked it myself. This child did not need to "barrel" through ANY door, in the manner in which she did, which has resulted in serious bodily injury to my child. Would this be considered reckless endangerment in the second degree? It is not my intention to ruin this kid's life, but someone has to get through to this child regarding the consequences of her behavior. From my knowledge, the school is not planning to submit this child to an outside agency for correction of the problem.

Assuming no other problems are found to be related to this accident, my child is looking at a projected $36,000 payout over her lifetime to care for her broken teeth. What recourse do we have to seek monetary relief and from whom?

[enjay]

How is this anything other than an accident?

[HomeGuru]

Originally Posted by Aqua1111

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Arkansas

My 13 yo child was leaving the school locker room Tuesday-last week when another child ran into the locker room from the other side. The forceful impact of the door broke two of my child's front teeth, other problems may also be surfacing based upon progressing symptoms. Only the two teeth injured were x-rayed last week, and we are being scheduled to have a panoramic and skull x-ray to assess additional damage.

The school accident insurance plan will cover $100/tooth lifetime benefit. Google search from reliable sources state the lifetime care of a broken tooth can be $18K/tooth.

This child is well known to be a bully in the school and comes from a troubled home. The school is not able to discipline in this accident, however, the 13 yo child went on to palm another student 3 days after my child's accident. The "bully" shared with her classmates that after she was spoken to about the palming, a normal student would get 3-5 days in school suspension. As this occurred on Friday, we were sure she would be in ISS on Monday, but she was attending regular classes.

The school is a small rural school. The parent of the "bully" is a single mom, known by the community to be very intimidating herself. The "bully" came up to me, after practice on Thursday, to say she was sorry about what happened to my child, with a slight smile on her face. I told this child she needed to learn to control herself. While leaving school, 5 minutes later, her mother cut me off in the parking lot, asked about my child, got my daughter's take on the accident, admitted her child was probably "barreling through the door" and then left to pick up her child. The "bully" told her mother I approached her, chewed her out, and began annoying her. Her mother said, according to student witnesses, (one of which was to be the palming victim the next day) "how dare her speak to you, before she has spoken with me, that *itch." So you see the mentality of the people I am dealing with. This child is out of control and the school is not able to appropriately address the problem and my child has/is suffering from this.

In regards to my child's accident: It is apparent this much pressure need not be placed on the door to open it. I checked it myself. This child did not need to "barrel" through ANY door, in the manner in which she did, which has resulted in serious bodily injury to my child. Would this be considered reckless endangerment in the second degree? It is not my intention to ruin this kid's life, but someone has to get through to this child regarding the consequences of her behavior. From my knowledge, the school is not planning to submit this child to an outside agency for correction of the problem.

Assuming no other problems are found to be related to this accident, my child is looking at a projected $36,000 payout over her lifetime to care for her broken teeth. What recourse do we have to seek monetary relief and from whom?

**A: tell us the status of the school and your own accidental insurance.

[Aqua1111]

enjay,
Do you go in and out of doors by putting all your might on it to open it, or close it?
I am sure you do not. A reasonable person knows someone could be on the other side and if careless, someone/something could get hurt. I DID say this was an accident, however, an accident resulting out of reckless conduct.

This was an accident resulting out of reckless disregard for the safety and well being of school property and safety of others. Let's say the door was wooden and not metal, as in this case. The power this child put into the door would have broken a wooden door. Would it makes us feel better then that a door was also broken and not just a child's tooth? The school would be seeking restitution to have that door fixed and the child would be disciplined for damaging school property.

Reckless endangerment: A person commits the crime of reckless endangerment if the person recklessly engages in conduct which creates a substantial risk of serious physical injury to another person. “Reckless” conduct is conduct that exhibits a culpable disregard of foreseeable consequences to others from the act or omission involved. The accused need not intentionally cause a resulting harm or know that his conduct is substantially certain to cause that result. The ultimate question is whether, under all the circumstances, the accused’s conduct was of that heedless nature that made it actually or imminently dangerous to the rights or safety of others. (wilkipedia)

Conduct as related to behavior: manner of acting or controlling yourself

Not all cases of reckless endangerment are so obvious. It is the conduct a prudent individual would exhibit in a similar situation which defines the definition. I guess the real lesson here is to peak in and out of doors first to make sure no one is barreling through, that is the message the kid's at school have learned. We cannot trust that other's know proper door opening and closing techniques.

[Aqua1111]

Originally Posted by HomeGuru

**A: tell us the status of the school and your own accidental insurance.

Of course the reaction of the school is postured to hold "no blame" and rely on school accident insurance which we were offered. In inquiring about the benefit, as mentioned, we were told, $100/tooth. $200 lifetime total is what the school is liable for in this circumstance. (our emergency dental care bill was almost $400)

After meeting with administrators last week, we left shaking our heads, at the school's determination of not seeing this child's reckless pattern of behavior. As this was an accident, there is no disciplinary issue. The school has policy regarding bullying behavior, but not reckless behavior. I would encourage all parents to review their child's school policy handbook to ensure a reckless behavior policy is in place. In researching, there are secondary schools out there which see the need to have this in place. Our family now carries the burden to see this incorporated into our own school's policy.

Our family does not have insurance.

[Zigner]

The door could have been hollow-core and caused the same damage.
Your son had momentum and the other child had momentum.

[Aqua1111]

Originally Posted by Zigner

The door could have been hollow-core and caused the same damage.
Your son had momentum and the other child had momentum.

My daughter was reaching for the door handle on the inside of the lockerroom to pull the door towards her, the other child came from the other side (gym)with outstretched arms allowing both hands to push her running, 200 lbs. body through the door. I am sure the momentum from the outside pushing in was much greater than my daughter's reach for the handle. Just want to clarify the momentum issue.

As far as the door itself is concerned, a hollow core door may have caused the same damage as the metal door, but, I am sure that is dependent upon the how much force was placed behind the door. I am sure a hollow core door would have absorbed some of the impact (by potentially breaking) and may not have hurt my child as badly. I guess this would be a good one to submit to mythbusters. I cannot change the door now to be a wooden door, I only used this as an example to state that had a piece of school property been broken, you would bet there would be more to say about this child's behavior and that is a tragedy.

Either way, does anyone feel this conduct is reckless?

[Zigner]

Originally Posted by Aqua1111

My daughter was reaching for the door handle on the inside of the lockerroom to pull the door towards her, the other child came from the other side (gym)with outstretched arms allowing both hands to push her running, 200 lbs. body through the door. I am sure the momentum from the outside pushing in was much greater than my daughter's reach for the handle. Just want to clarify the momentum issue.

As far as the door itself is concerned, a hollow core door may have caused the same damage as the metal door, but, I am sure that is dependent upon the how much force was placed behind the door. I am sure a hollow core door would have absorbed some of the impact (by potentially breaking) and may not have hurt my child as badly. I guess this would be a good one to submit to mythbusters. I cannot change the door now to be a wooden door, I only used this as an example to state that had a piece of school property been broken, you would bet there would be more to say about this child's behavior and that is a tragedy.

Either way, does anyone feel this conduct is reckless?

This was an accident.

[ecmst12]

I agree, there was no malice or intent to injure, and no negligence. A court can't and won't hold a child to the same standards of reasonableness as an adult, and you said yourself that he wouldn't have had to be going very fast or pushing very hard to make the door fling open. He had no way of knowing your son was behind the door and regardless of his 'bully' reputation, I see no evidence of him being 'out of control' at this particular incident. Kids run around sometimes, that's normal kid behavior. The school can't be expected to prevent all accidents or be responsible for all injuries. You are going to have to use your own insurance for this.

[Aqua1111]

Thank you for your replies.

The responses I am reading, makes me more aware that the school's policy must be changed. By reading these responses gives me more impetus and reason to see that the school will incorporate a reckless policy into the school handbook. So that kid's will "know" how to be reasonable, how to act. I guess we must also include situations which are reckless. I guess it must all be spelled out. Are these not the things we are taught growing up? Where is common sense these days?

I read exactly how the reckless endangerment clause reads. This child recklessly engaged in conduct (lack of control) that did seriously injure another person (my daughter). Who does not know how to properly go in and out of a door? Surely, she must be aware of the risks her actions could have on any body/thing on the other side. Her actions were a gross deviation from standard of conduct that a reasonable person would observe in a similar situation. Can 13 yo kids not be reasonable? Maybe the courts will not hold her to the same "reasonableness" as an adult, but if policy change occur at school , she will be on notice. We cannot allow excuses for this child. (and again, this is not the first my child has been harmed by this kid) And of course, they are all "accidents".

I am sure my child is not the only child subject to other's "accident's". But, right now my child is suffering and in pain and will have a lifetime reminder of this accident. If a reckless policy were in place, prior to this "accident". this child could have been reprimanded for her conduct. It is mentioned in the school handbook what it means to respect school property. Regardless of the injury, children are disciplined for running and barreling through doors when caught. I wonder if the male coach had been at school this day, and not a female substitute, would this child's conduct have been different?

There is a lot more to this than meets the eye. But keep in mind, secondary schools are implementing reckless policy into their handbooks for a reason. Kids are being held accountable for their behavior and conduct. If in fact the parents are not doing their job in teaching their kids the lessons of how to behave around others, it falls back on the school to be babysitter and parent.

I am still going to seek legal advise on this issue. I am not so convinced by the responses, that I should not pursue the matter further. If this child did not have a record of recklessness, my actions may be misconstrued as a witch hunt, however, this child has made her own bed.

[Zigner]

All I have to say is that your daughter ALSO needs to learn to be careful when approaching a door that may open in to her.

[Aqua1111]

Originally Posted by Zigner

All I have to say is that your daughter ALSO needs to learn to be careful when approaching a door that may open in to her.

That is such good advice. I will be sure to share that with her.
In the meantime, I will be sure to get her a pair of xray glasses to be able to watch for crazy people slamming through doors.

[wyett717]

There is no indication this was done with intent to hurt your child. Accidents happen; they are a risk to everyone, everywhere.

[HomeGuru]

Originally Posted by Aqua1111

That is such good advice. I will be sure to share that with her.
In the meantime, I will be sure to get her a pair of xray glasses to be able to watch for crazy people slamming through doors.

**A: even glass doors could cause injuries and you can even see through them.

[ecmst12]

The thing about children is that they lack the maturity to be able to fully comprehend and consider all the consequences of their actions. That is a skill that is developed over many years of existence. This experience has no doubt taught a little of that to the other kid. But you should not be expecting a child to act as we would expect an adult to act. The law says that we don't hold those under the age of 18 to be legally responsible for their actions. Common sense says that a 13 year old is going to do things that would seem reckless if they were done by an adult, but since he's NOT an adult, you can't call it reckless, only normal/natural behavior.