Legal liability: The consequences of school injury

BACKGROUND: Approximately 10-25% of child and adolescent injuries occur at school. Little is known about school-related injuries to teachers and other adults or about the direct cost of injuries to schools. This study examined the characteristics of cases involving injuries resulting in lawsuits against schools, compared cases in which schools paid awards with those in which schools did not pay awards, and compared student and nonstudent injuries resulting in lawsuits against schools. METHODS: Descriptions of cases of school liability for personal injury that were tried or settled between July 1996 and May 2002 were purchased from jury Verdict Research, which maintains a national database of verdicts and settlements. The 455 cases reviewed were coded according to the characteristics of the case, school, award, and injured party. RESULTS: In two thirds of the cases, schools or school districts paid an award to plaintiffs (mean = $562,915, median = $50,000). In most cases, the injured party was male (57.1%) and younger than 18 years of age (79.9%). Fractures (38.9%) were the most common type of injury. Falls (21.9%) were the most common cause of injury. Among cases of intentional injury, 93.2% involved an injury to a student; among cases of unintentional injury, 74.6% involved injury to a student. CONCLUSIONS: Preventing school-related injuries is an ethical and legal obligation for schools and school districts. Prevention is also critical because a wide range of injuries are litigated, and such lawsuits often require schools and school districts to pay costly awards to injured parties.