Is this a ridiculous case?

[superberkut]

A friend of my mother is a schoolteacher, teaching kindergarten. She has 20 pupils, but one of them has ADD. This friend has brought up this issue with the child's mother and told her to get him assessed (at least!), but the mother kept insisting that her child was normal. She instead told the teacher to follow her child, which, with 20 students (and all at the age of 4-5!), is a bit unreasonable. She is virtually alone; an assistant comes once a week, but once at the most.

One day, the child got stuck in some sort of toy washing machine kept in the room (the teacher told her students specifically not to crawl into there),and getting out, he scraped his back (just a light scrape, like a slight scratch). The next thing that happens, the child's mother is suing the school board for negligence of her child.

I mean, the mother cannot actually say that the teacher didn't warn her, and yet for such a small scrape (not even a real injury), the mother sees fit to sue the school board for negligence.

Given current court cases, however, this sounds normal! Is this really going to be the norm in several years?

Opinions? (I apologize, too; I just needed to vent)

 

[Danoff]

Given current court cases, however, this sounds normal! Is this really going to be the norm in several years?

Stupid lawsuits like this do not often win. Many of them are brought, but most of the time they're either thrown out or ruled correctly.

There is a mechanism for getting the case thrown out before it's even heard. The school can motion for "summary judgement", an early judgement based on initial cases set forth in a brief to the judge by the lawyers on both sides. The case basically has to be open and shut, but this way the judge can rule very early on. Or I think he can refuse to hear the case entirely.

If this case passes summary judgment, it will likely settle - because lawyers are expensive and it will most likely be cheaper to pay the mom off (which is what she's hoping for). The only reason that settling with someone like this is economically viable is because lawyers fees are so expensive that winning the case can be worse than settling.

There are reform measures being discussed to help prevent people from bringing bogus cases and hoping to settle. "Loser pays" is my favorite. Basically it means that the loser of the lawsuit pays for the winner's attorneys (at least some reasonable value determined by the judge). The down side is that it discourages people who are hard on cash from bringing suits. Still, I think the idea is exactly that - to discourage people from bringing suits.

Sorry to hear about yet another lame individual hoping to make a buck off of what amounts to legal blackmail.

 

[Pupik]

A lot of teachers in my area are actually asking for the classrooms to have cameras for reasons such as this. This way the recording allows them to be exonerated from wrong-doing (if they do no harm, of course) even though they don't like the privacy invasion it presents. Tough call, I say. I suppose if a teacher is for it, then it's okay; however, no school or school board is going to use a case-by-case basis for recording classroom events. It's going to be an all-or-nothing affair.

After all, the public school is a sort of public place; it's not completely private nor completely public. But the schools are so vulnerable from attacks, ranging from completely heinous to completely fabricated (or incidents like this one mentioned) that it's probably just a matter of time before the classroom winds up "on tape" for security reasons. Besides, the teacher can also send a recording of the day's events for the kids that were called in sick. Now I can see the kids are going be against it.

Kids play, they get hurt, that's part of being a kid. That's not abuse, that's not a danger, it's about learning to be more careful when you play around next time.

 

[Keef]

Sounds like the mother is a big hypocrite. She insists her kid is normal, but then asks for him to receive special attention, thereby suggesting and/or admitting that the child is abnormal. Just thought I'd throw that out there. Seems like that's all a sensible judge would need to hear in order to rule this lady a democrat and slam the Gavel of Frivolous Lawsuits.

 

[Omnis]

Hopefully the school will settle for neosporin and band-aid costs.

Most of the time, "ADD" kids suffer from NPD-- neglectful parent disorder. That or just boredom.

 

[peeweegary]

woww...this just reminded me of a quote by jeremy clarkson...."america is a sueing country..."

This is just so stupid...Its just a scrape...If it was life threatening i would see the point but this.......

 

[Gil]

woww...this just reminded me of a quote by jeremy clarkson...."america is a sueing country..."

This is just so stupid...Its just a scrape...If it was life threatening i would see the point but this.......

This is the only country where a person can sue Winnebago for not explicitly warning drivers that cruise control is actually for controlling speed, not "auto-pilot" and that person can win.

If the teacher has kept some sort of "paper-trail" of her dealings with this child's mother, and the mother's special request to have the teacher "spend more time" with her child, because he is "busy" it will go a long way toward exonerating the school.

 

[Danoff]

This is the only country where a person can sue Winnebago for not explicitly warning drivers that cruise control is actually for controlling speed, not "auto-pilot" and that person can win.

Sorry Gil. Gotta ask for citations.

 

[Gil]

Sorry Gil. Gotta ask for citations.

I checked, it's actually a myth...
But the hot coffee lawsuit is true.
A person ordered hot coffee, got hot coffee, spilled it and burned themselves, sued and were awarded millions. All because hot coffee was served hot.
I guess the point is that in this country you can sue for nearly any stupid thing and win.

 

[superberkut]

woww...this just reminded me of a quote by jeremy clarkson...."america is a sueing country..."

This is just so stupid...Its just a scrape...If it was life threatening i would see the point but this.......

I know! And this is in Canada!

Nothing on the lawsuit yet... but then, it was issued 3 days ago (2 since I last heard of it). Hopefully, it will not advance to court. But the poor teacher is so distraught over what to do about this case.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

Kids play, they get hurt, that's part of being a kid. That's not abuse, that's not a danger, it's about learning to be more careful when you play around next time.

Absolutely. How can the mother, who was not there, possibly hope to blame the institution for the actions of the child? When I was a lad, I got up to some really dangerous stuff, and when I got caught, it was rightly me that got the telling off, not the school.

But now we live in a blame culture, so whenever something happens, someone has to be at fault.

 

[FoolKiller]

I guess the point is that in this country you can sue for nearly any stupid thing and win.

FACT: You can sue for whatever reason you want. That does not mean it will go to court or you will win anything or that you might not get counter-sued for being a D-bag, but you can file a lawsuit for just about anything.

 

[Nicknamealguem]

I checked, it's actually a myth...
But the hot coffee lawsuit is true.
A person ordered hot coffee, got hot coffee, spilled it and burned themselves, sued and were awarded millions. All because hot coffee was served hot.
I guess the point is that in this country you can sue for nearly any stupid thing and win.

You think that’s bad? I once heard the TVnews in MY country, that an American senator sued GOD for all the bad things happening in earth.


And I really think this case is a bit ridiculous.

 

[WallRunner]

A scrape on the back? I got hit in the head with a rock in kindergarten and was subsequently tripped as the teacher stood right there and did nothing, and no court case ever went on,

From,
Chris.

 

[Keef]

A scrape on the back? I got hit in the head with a rock in kindergarten and was subsequently tripped as the teacher stood right there and did nothing, and no court case ever went on,

From,
Chris.

If only everybody in the country had a thorough understanding of law and eyes like a hawk, everyone would be rich and everyone else would be bankrupt.

If that makes any sense.

 

[Kent]

If this case passes summary judgment, it will likely settle - because lawyers are expensive and it will most likely be cheaper to pay the mom off (which is what she's hoping for). The only reason that settling with someone like this is economically viable is because lawyers fees are so expensive that winning the case can be worse than settling.

Also don't forget that settling usually comes with a confidentiality agreement that will make it impossible for this case to come up in the future if something like this happens again.
Often it is the confidentiality that trumps the cost... "We'd rather have no one know about the case or not be able to use the case against us in the future."
Although you are right as well, attorney fees are very steep.