Can we be responsible for the medical bill if my daughter accidentally injured another girl? 21 Answers as of October 28, 2011

The father of the injured child may file a lawsuit against you, probably in small claims court. But he may be bluffing, so wait until you are actually served a summons and complaint. You have no obligation to pay the medical bills until a judgment is entered against you following a trial, and it is doubtful that such an outcome would occur. Children age five are typically held to a standard of care reasonable for a five-year-old. What you describe does not strike one as unreasonable behavior for a toddler. An unfortunate accident, but a judge would probably find it was an accident all the same.

If your daughter was negligent in that she did not act as a prudent five year old would act (I'm not kidding), then she could liable. Not you. But sounds like it was the other girl's fault. Don't pay.

California Civil Code Section 1714.1(a) imposes liability of a parent or guardian for the willful misconduct of a minor causing injury or death to another up to $25,000. A child under 5 is presumed not to be responsible for her conduct, i.e., she is incapable of negligence. However, a parent or guardian who should have been watching the five year-old could be liable for failing to properly supervise or control her.

In theory yes, but most likely no. Every person who enters a playground shoulders an "assumption of risk". Playgrounds, especially public ones are inherently dangerous places. Children push and pull things. There is nothing unusual about a child pushing an empty swing. As a parent, I have seen countless near misses and actual collisions with swings even when there is a person in the swing and thus ostensibly easier to see the moving target and avoid it. Children will fixate on things in the distance and be completely oblivious to anything and everything in between. That is where the child's parents come in. They too have a duty to be mindful of the obstacles their child is unaware of. Finally, whether you have a duty to be wary of other children's safety, a key element of breaching that "duty" would be whether or not you were aware of a potential breach of that duty. Thus if you were aware of a child that was wandering in the vicinity of the swing and made no attempt to stop your child or warn the other child, then perhaps you might have breached your duty. However, as I said, because a child pushing a swing (empty or full) is not an activity that is out of the ordinary in a playground setting, and thus you were not aware of a danger, and you were also not aware of the other child's presence nearby, and even if you were, the ability for you to warn the child and for that child to hear and react appropriately to that warning was extremely limited, I would say you are not liable. I know things seem to happen in slow motion when a child is about to get hurt, but in real time, the time that anyone would have had to prevent such and injury was probably less than 2 or 3 seconds.

In order to be liable, your daughter would have to be at fault, either by acting purposefully, or by being negligent. It sounds like the child who was injured, however, is as much at fault as anyone for her injuries for negligently walking in front of a swing.

I would probably go ahead and let those parents sue. Who is to say that the other child was not responsible for walking in front of the swing? Also, the parents would have to sue your five year old for negligently hurting their child and/or sue you for negligent supervision of your child. Accidents happen. Tell that father he should carry health insurance for his child.

Some states have laws that make parents responsible for their children's mischief. Mischief may not always be intentional. The statutes may cover accidents as well. You should check to determine if you live in a state that has such a law.

Probably not, but if you are sued, contact you home insurance to see if they will defend you. If not, answer the lawsuit and deny any claims you don't agree with. Do it in writing sent to the clerk of the court the suit is filed in. Never ever ignore legal papers. If you do, the other side wins by default. Fighting the charges later is rarely successful and always costly.

Consult with an accident attorney for legal advice and direction regarding the direct cause of the swing accident and who is liabile for the injury. Initially,it may be wise to attermpt to find out if the park and/or the parents of the injured girl carried insurance to cover the injury at the time of the accident.

You can be sued for anything, that does not mean there will be a recovery.