Chicago Daycare Injury Lawyer

If you believe that you may qualify to file a lawsuit against daycare providers in Chicago IL, contact TorHoerman Law to discuss your legal options right away. Our law firm offers a free consultation to all potential clients and will provide advice on any legal issue you’re dealing with. Contact us for more information. We're here to make sure that negligent parties are held responsible, so that you can focus on the recovery of your injured child.

How an Injury Attorney Can Help

Before moving forward with a negligence lawsuit, familiarize yourself with the steps in a civil lawsuit. From there, you and your children must complete a few important steps with the help and guidance of your attorney:

• Mitigate Injuries
• Gather Evidence
• Assess Damages

An accident attorney will also help to determine liability for your personal injury claim and explain to the courts how negligence of another party injured your children.

Mitigate Injuries

With any case of negligent supervision, it’s important for affected children to seek medical care and attempt to best recuperate from any injury. If you loved one has suffered from an injury, seek medical treatment right away and follow the instructions of medical personnel. Failure to properly mitigate injuries, with medical issues left unchanged and able to worsen, can result in a dismissal of any legal action, barring certain circumstances.

Gathering Evidence

Gather evidence for your case including any involved names, photos, videos, and receipts. Personal injury cases are won and lost based solely on the evidence provided. Evidence in a daycare abuse lawsuit includes:

• Medical records and bills
• Photos or videos of injuries
• Photos or videos of abuse
• Photos or videos of the site of an accident
• Witness statements
• Statements from responding authorities if available

Your injury attorney will examine the facts and evidence to determine who is liable for injuries and damages.

Assessing Damages

Your attorney will begin assessing damages that you or your children incurred as a result of the alleged abuse. In many instances, individuals who have endured systematic abuse will choose to list both punitive damages and compensatory damages suffered from the incident. Typical damages in a lawsuit include:

• Medical bills
• Rehabilitative surgery
• Pain and suffering
• Emotional distress

Your lawyer will work to settle your lawsuit out of court or take it to a jury trial and win a verdict; in either case, the goal is to win compensation that covers the costs of damages.

What if I Signed a Daycare Liability Waiver?

An accident occurred at the daycare and your child suffered an injury, but the next question in your mind is if the liability waiver you signed could prevent you and your family from receiving compensation for the accident. Daycare liability waivers almost never hold any weight in a Chicago daycare negligence lawsuit. Although many daycare facilities require parents to sign liability waivers, they do not legally exonerate daycare providers in the case of an accident or injury. There have been multiple cases of a judge ruling that a liability waiver should not exempt a daycare or its employees from being held responsible for the accident. In the eyes of the law, the daycare center or employee negligence caused the child to be injured or killed, and a piece of paper does not hold any weight in skirting that responsibility. Do not let a liability waiver prevent you from filing a daycare accident lawsuit. If you have any questions, your Chicago daycare negligence lawyer can help.  

According to the Center for American Progress, "almost one-quarter (23.4 percent) of children under the age of five are in some form of organized child care arrangement, which includes daycare centers, nurseries, and preschools." With a large portion of the country's children enrolled, daycare accidents are not uncommon. Before putting your children in the care of another, cross-reference the names of daycares you're contemplating with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services database. It is also important to note that you should only place your children in a licensed and safe facility. The State of Illinois has strict requirements for licensing daycares and preschools. Licensed childcare facilities also do have a duty of care, or obligation, to prevent accidents from occurring and if they do happen, report those accidents immediately.

What are Common Injuries at Daycare Facilities?

Daycare facilities are responsible for children's safety, trusted by parents to provide the utmost care. A child can easily be injured at a daycare facility because of employee negligence or failure to provide close supervision. A child could also be injured by dangerous property, such as defective playground equipment or unsafe premises left unchanged. There are a multitude of injuries that can occur at a daycare center:

• Cuts and bruises
• Broken bones
• Head injury, specifically from falling
• Dental injury
• Unintentional poisoning
• Drowning
• Burns
• Choking or suffocating
• Abuse

If your child was injured while under the watch of a daycare employee or daycare provider, ensure 911 is called immediately and medical treatment is provided.

Sexual Abuse at Daycare Facilities

Daycare centers are unfortunately places where sexual abuse can occur. The non-profit Darkness to Light published statistics on sexual abuse in daycare centers, finding that of daycare employees who were found to be exhibiting abusive or negligent conduct, 20% committed sexual abuse.  

Determining liability for your child's injuries is completely dependent on the specific situation. Liability could be placed on a daycare employee failed to properly supervise your child. Liability could be determined if a property owner did not keep up their premises, even with the knowledge that it could be potentially dangerous, and a child is injured because of the condition of the site. There can even be more than one person held liable for the injury of a child, depending on the circumstances. There is not always a clear-cut answer as to who, or what organization, will hold liability for the injury of a child, which is why it is important to discuss your case with a premises liability lawyer sooner rather than later. A premises liability lawyer will be able to help determine the at-fault party in a particular case.

Can a School be Held Liable for Child Injuries?

In Illinois, liability cannot typically be placed on a school for any personal injury occurred on their property. Public schools are generally immune to legal ramifications for any accident that injures a child on their property. A public school cannot be held liable for an accident unless "willful and wanton misconduct" is found to have occurred. Willful and wanton misconduct refers to "a course of action which shows an actual or deliberate intention to cause harm or which, if not intentional, shows an utter indifference to or conscious disregard for the safety of others or their property." If an accident occurred at a school because of negligent supervision, willful and wanton acts, your lawyer may have to file a notice of claim in order for the lawsuit to be legitimate. Legal action against a public school, school district, or school employees can be complicated. Contact an attorney if your kid was injured on school property.

Navigating legal issues after a traumatic incident such as daycare abuse or negligence can be difficult. Choosing an experienced attorney to represent you, a family member, or a loved one can be an extra, unneeded stress.

Hiring a lawyer is an important decision to make as a parent, so you should go into it fully informed. Making an informed decision on legal representation is paramount. When hiring a lawyer, you should be able to focus on you and your loved one’s well-being and recovery from their injury, while lawyers work hard on your case and fight for your legal rights. An experienced lawyer will be able to act on your behalf, doing the following:

• Files a legal claim
• Deliberates with any insurance company involved
• Assesses your medical expenses and damages
• Ensures that you receive compensation for any injury or damages from the negligent party.

Your accident lawyers will fight for you and your rights. At TorHoerman Law, that is our primary objective – fighting for you.

We're not like other attorneys: TorHoerman Law has achieved more than $4 billion in verdicts and negotiated settlements in a variety of practice areas. Our past results afford us recognition as some of the best lawyers in Illinois.

We have some of the best attorneys in the state staffed at our law firm. A number of our attorneys being named Top Lawyers in Illinois including Top 100 Lawyers in the state of Illinois; prestigious awards given through nominations by their peers in the industry. Our focus is based solely on providing competent services and formal legal advice, building an attorney client relationship, and achieving full financial recovery for any injury. From the beginning, we've intended to form a strong attorney-client relationship: you will be kept in the loop on your accident lawsuit, privacy will be afforded for confidential or sensitive information, and we will use our knowledge of the law to reach a settlement that will compensate for your child's injury. TorHoerman Law operates on a contingency fee basis. With working on a contingency fee basis, our clients do not pay legal service fees until they have been fully compensated for their losses. If you do not receive a settlement, our law firm will foot the bill for all legal costs. Consider contacting TorHoerman Law for a free case evaluation in your search for a daycare accident lawyer in the Chicago area (Cook County, Orland Park, Tinley Park, Lake County, Dupage County, Kane County, and more). THL: your personal injury attorneys and Illinois law experts.