Liability In The Event Of An Accident On A School Excursion
Any person or entity that owns a higher education center has a great responsibility in case of damages or injuries suffered by minors during school activities. This is valid both for teaching activities and for extracurricular activities, breaks, school outings and excursions.
If parents leave their minor children at school, the educational center assumes the responsibility of taking care of them while they remain in its facilities or in activities organized by the institution.
Accidents in the school environment are quite frequent due to the very nature of the activities and behavior of children and adolescents. The vigilance of teachers, in this sense, is the key.
However, there are cases in which these accidents are caused by the lack of diligence of the educational center staff. And, in these cases, which can be mild or very serious, the institution must respond. Next, we will see some elements to better understand what responsibility is in the event of an accident on a school excursion.
Risks During School Field Trips
When an educational center organizes a school outing or excursion , the risks of accidents can be much greater than during the normal activities that take place within its facilities.
In the practice of excursions, being an activity that takes place outside the center, it is not possible to control all the factors that intervene during the transfer and the activities themselves.
This risk of suffering damage or injury is multiplied when the number of students is large and the teachers who go with them to care for and supervise them are few. In the case of students who suffer some kind of disability, the care must be greater.
What can parents do in the event of an accident during a school field trip?
In the event of an accident occurring during a school excursion, parents have a civil remedy at their disposal to claim compensation. But they also have the option of doing it through contentious-administrative means. This is valid in case of a claim of patrimonial responsibility to a public educational center.
The civil liability action against the teachers or staff of the center who is involved in the accident can also be added to this claim .
Parents can argue a deficient action, both of the directive structures and of those of supervision of the school. For their part, the teachers, authorities and, in general, the staff of the educational center, must prove that they adopted all the appropriate and necessary measures to avoid damage.
Two known cases of parental lawsuits for accidents during a school field trip
The mother of a 16-year-old adolescent who suffered from a 34% mental disability filed a lawsuit for an event that occurred during a visit with the school to a nature center.
During a walk, the girl fell into a river and suffered a head injury and a fractured cervical vertebra. The consequences of these injuries were tetraplegia and very significant cosmetic damage.
The court released the two teachers who were in charge of the group of students that day from responsibility. However, the responsibility of the nature center monitor was established, since she undertook the walk without the teachers having been informed about it.
The responsibility in this case of the girl in the river was extended to the owners of the center and the respective insurer. The compensation they had to pay was close to 900 thousand euros.
A visit to the ZOO
The second case is the one that occurred during the visit of a group of children to the zoo. On that occasion, a four-year-old boy was attacked by a lion. The court ruled the clear responsibility of the educational center.
Indeed, the cause of the accident at the zoo was the lack of attention, care and vigilance on the part of the school staff who were in charge of the group of children during the excursion.
This does not mean that the zoo management has been exonerated of its own responsibility. In order to pronounce its sentence, the court took into account that the boy who was attacked was barely four years old and that, due to the presence of beasts exposed in the place, it was necessary to take extreme care and precautions.
