New York Lawyers Representing Children Injured in Playground Accidents
Your Child Should Be Free to Play
An injury to a child is every parent’s worst nightmare. All too often we send our children to school or day care only to receive the dreaded call that our child was hurt or injured. Another nightmare scenario for most parents is letting your child play in a public playground, only to hear them suddenly cry out in pain. Playground injuries are a leading cause of accidental injury to children, but if your child got hurt on a New York City playground, you should not just assume that it was your child’s fault. Unfortunately, playgrounds are often dangerous for children because of design errors, improper warnings, improper installation of playground equipment or inadequate maintenance of playground equipment. Our New York City playground injury lawyers have handled numerous personal injury cases involving injuries to children on public playgrounds and at school yards and our attorneys know that if the playground is safe, more often than not, the child will not get hurt.
Our playground accident lawyers have extensive experience in representing parents whose children were injured on a playground because the playground was dangerous. Our injury attorneys know what to look for and how to prove the case. An early investigation is your best chance of proving a case, so if your child was hurt, take pictures of everything and call our playground accident lawyers. Our NYC playground injury attorneys employ investigators who can get out to a playground, often the same day that we are called and take photographs and measurements, to preserve evidence. The school, playground or day care where your child was injured will not voluntarily admit that the accident was their fault, but often these injuries are caused by the negligence of the school or property owner. A few examples of the most common negligence our New York accident lawyers see are unsafe fall surfaces, children utilizing playground equipment that is not age appropriate, broken or uneven asphalt and negligence in supervision.
We Know the Law
Under New York law, landowners that have playgrounds are required to install and maintain their park and playground facilities in a reasonably safe condition. This includes schools, New York City parks and day care/pre-school facilities. To make sure that playgrounds in New York State meet certain minimum safety standards, New York’s legislature enacted New York General Business Law § 399-dd states, in pertinent part, that the Department of State shall promulgate rules and regulations for the design, installation, inspection, and maintenance of playgrounds and playground equipment, which shall substantially comply with the guidelines and criteria contained in the Handbook for Public Playground Safety produced by the United States Consumer Products Safety Commission. Thereafter, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety’s Handbook for Public Playground safety was adopted as the standard with the passage of 21 NYCRR § 4605.2. So the first step in any playground accident investigation is to see if there was a violation of the standards in they Handbook for Playground Safety.
Most industry regulations require inspections of playground equipment by a qualified inspector, with mechanical knowledge to ensure that the equipment is properly maintained for the safety of the children who play on the equipment. Our Manhattan playground accident lawyers know that a proper preventive maintenance protocol is an essential safety practice to prevent playground injuries.
According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, each year, more than 200,000 children ages 14 and younger go to U.S. hospital emergency departments with injuries associated with playground equipment. More than 20,000 of these children are treated for a traumatic brain injury,
Different Types of Playground Accidents
No Matter How Your Child Was Injured, Our NYC Playground Accident Lawyers Have the Experience to Prove the Case
Broken Concrete Cases
Children run, ride on their heelys, rollerblades, skateboards and bicycles on playgrounds and other recreational areas. If your child tripped and fell, or a wheel on their bicycle, rollerblade, heely or skateboard got caught because of broken pavement or a pot hole, then you may have a lawsuit for your child’s injury. Our NYC accident lawyers know that walking surfaces should be safe for children to be children.
Routine inspections of playgrounds are required by good and accepted practices, and if the City ignores broken pavement on playgrounds or other recreation areas, that is an accident waiting to happen. If your child was hurt on a playground or recreation area because of broken pavement, call our NYC playground injury lawyers.
Unsafe Gaps
If your child’s foot got caught in a piece of playground equipment or they fell though an opening, an unsafe gap might be the cause of the injury. Gaps, between playground structural components, especially on bridges and other playground equipment that are sloped or have interconnecting parts, are especially dangerous and a trap for children, because their feet can easily slip into and get caught into these gaps. Usually gaps are caused by slack in the connecting parts of the bridge. These types of gaps and slack are usually caused by negligent installation or maintenance.
Our playground accident lawyers often work with engineers to prove that there was an unsafe gap and that the City caused the gap by negligently installing the playground or allowing it to fall into disrepair because of negligent maintenance.
Playground Surfacing
Children fall off of playground equipment and monkey bars and gliders are some of the most common playground equipment involved in falls. Children falling on a playground is a fact of life and the playground industry has recognized the need to reduce the likelihood that a fall will cause an injury, by ensuring that the surfacing around playground equipment have the capability to absorb and displace the force of a fall which lessens the severity of an injury. One of the most common features utilized for playground surfacing is engineered wood fibers, also called wood chips. Countless injuries every year are caused by an inadequate depth of woodchips. Section 2.4.2.2 of The Handbook for Public Playground Safety sets the standard for the minimum wood chip depth as nine inches. So if your child was injured in a playground fall and there was less then nine inches of wood chips, call our playground injury attorneys.
Poor Maintenance
An inadequate maintenance protocol can allow a playground to fall into disrepair, which is dangerous for a child. Lack of adequate inspection and poor maintenance can allow metal parts of equipment to rust, peel and become uneven. These types of conditions can cause a child to get cut, gashed or fall while they are running and playing. Playground surfaces are supposed to be safe and have proper coating so that children playing in a playground do not get hurt.
Age Appropriate Warnings
Not all playgrounds are safe for all children. Some equipment is only safe for children of a certain age, because they are designed for children of a certain height and average reach and ability to climb. Equipment on playgrounds is supposed to be clearly labeled as to what age group can safely play on the equipment. If you have a young child that was injured because the playground did not have warnings that the playground equipment was not age appropriate for your child, you may have a lawsuit for your child’s injuries.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are There Time Limits
Yes, for any playground operated by New York City, a notice of claim must be filed with the City of New York, within 90 days of the accident. Our lawyers can prepare these for you and have it properly filed within a day. If you do not timely file the notice of claim, for a playground injury, you will not be able to sue the City unless you get special permission from the Court.
What Happens After I File a Notice of Claim
After you file a notice of claim, the City has the right to a hearing, where they ask you questions about the accident and your child’s injuries. Our attorneys will prepare you for this so you know what to expect.
Do I Need a Lawyer Right Away
In addition to making sure that the notice of claim is timely filed, to prove a case, you need evidence that the City was negligent. Photographs of the condition that caused the injury and contemporaneous measurements by an expert or investigator are usually the best evidence of how an accident happened. If you let time go by, the City may fix the problem and you may lose the evidence of how the accident happened.
Law Office of Michael H. Joseph, PLLC
The Law Office of Michael H. Joseph, PLLC, has been helping injured victims recover compensation for their injuries for over 25 years. Our attorneys are members of several prestigious organizations, including:
- New York State Trial Lawyers Association
- American Association for Justice
- New York County Bar Association
- Westchester County Bar Association
To request your free initial consultation with our team, call our New York City office at (212) 858-0503 or our White Plains office at (914) 574-8330. You can also request a case review online.
