negligent supervision claimMost frequently, a negligent supervision claim arises out of personal injury cases that involve injuries to either young children or to the elderly. Some of these cases have even been captured on tape using nanny cams and other recording devices. When a parent or guardian has this kind of evidence, they will surely win any supervision claims or lawsuits and recover damages.

Whenever an individual trusts another person to supervise an elderly family member or child, there is always the possibility that something will happen that causes injury to their loved one. This is the reason that the law provides a remedy for someone who fails to uphold their legal responsibility to effectively and responsibly supervise others. This remedy is known as filing a claim for negligent supervision.

Common Types of Negligent Supervision:

The most frequent type of negligent supervision involves children and is linked to the highest numbers of cases. This is followed by negligent supervision of the elderly and negligent supervision of employees.

1. Negligent Supervision of Children:

The two types of Negligent Supervision of Children include the following:

1. You are able to sue if your child was injured as a result of the carelessness or inattention of a caregiver.

2. You are able to sue if your child, you, or your property was injured or damaged when other individuals failed to properly supervise a child.

Organizations as well as individuals may be sued and held responsible for negligent supervision and include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Parents
  • Foster Parents
  • Daycare Providers
  • Babysitters
  • Teachers
  • Coaches
  • Church Youth Group Leaders
  • Camp Counselors

Common types of Negligent Supervision of Children Cases Include:

  • Insufficient number of staff members to properly monitor children, causing injury
  • Insufficient protection from traffic, swimming pools, animals, and other environmental hazards
  • Parents allowing teens to consume alcohol or use illicit drugs at unsupervised gatherings
  • Foster parents neglecting a child while in their care
  • Allowing children to ingest harmful or toxic chemicals left out in the open
  • House fires caused by children playing with matches and lighters
  • Accidental shootings from unsecured weapons on the premises
  • A parent allowing a child to operate a motor vehicle
  • Daycare staff members who fail to properly monitor a violent child who injures another individual
  • Educational sport coaches who allow their students to vandalize property

2. Negligent Supervision Of The Elderly

Just as in the case of children, an individual or organization entrusted with the responsibility of supervising the elderly may also be sued and held responsible for negligence. Unfortunately, negligent supervision of the elderly occurs most frequently in nursing homes. Typical signs of elderly neglect include the following:

  • Injuries and falls due to lack of supervision from staff members of fall-risk patients
  • Sores or infections caused from improper hygiene care
  • Choking on inappropriately sized food portions
  • Ignoring financial abuse
  • Ignoring physical abuse
  • Failing to properly monitor dementia patients and prevent them from wandering off the premises.

If you have a family member or loved one in the care of a nursing home, be sure to check for signs of neglect and abuse and speak to them in private about the care that they’re receiving.

3. Negligent Supervision of Employees:

Employers are responsible for maintaining a safe working environment, and when a company fails to ensure its employees are following company policies, there may be cause for a negligent supervision case. In several instances, company supervisors can be held responsible for the poor behavior of their employees. Common examples of this include:

  • Permitting sexual harassment to occur in the workplace
  • Ignoring threats of violence in the workplace
  • Failing to provide proper supervision and training to employees who are equipped with dangerous chemicals, tools, or weapons
  • Allowing an employee accused of or convicted of sexual molestation or other sex crime to be alone with children
  • Knowingly allowing an intoxicated individual operate heavy machinery
  • Failing to properly monitor employees who are working from home via satellite who are involved in scams

Common Elements involving Negligent Supervision

Regardless of whether you or your family has suffered from the negligent supervision of another individual or organization, there are particular elements that all of these types of cases have in common.

1. The defendant must have been responsible for supervising and monitoring the child, employee, or elderly individual involved.

2. The defendant must have failed in their responsibility to properly supervise the individual.

3. The individual must have suffered an injury or damages directly related to the employer or caretaker’s carelessness or lack of attention.

4. The injury must have been foreseeable. This means that a typically reasonable individual would have been able to anticipate the injury occurring.

When all of these circumstances are met, you certainly have the basis for filing a negligent supervision claim.

Hiring A Personal Injury Lawyer For Your Negligent Supervision Claim

You need to work with a lawyer who can help you build a solid case. Proving negligent supervision claims can be very complex which is why you need to hire a lawyer who is qualified and has previous experience in handling such cases.

Contact one of our experienced lawyers in Plymouth,MA, at  508-746-2700 or fill out our contact form for a free initial consultation.