Tort Negligence Liability For Teachers In Oakland
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While there are exceptions, in a nutshell it says that you cannot sue a school or its employees for negligent acts. The only way to get to a school is by demonstrating willful and wanton--just about intentional--conduct.
These legal elements include a professional duty owed to a patient, breach of duty, proximate cause or causal con- nection elicited by a breach of duty, and resulting in- juries or damages suffered. 1 These 4 elements apply to all cases of negligence regardless of specialty or clin- ician level.
Most often, teachers are accused of committing a battery or assault in the course of disciplining a child or stopping a student from injuring another student. This usually involves grabbing the arm of a student or physically forcing the student away from an incident.
Tort liability is predicated on the existence of proximate cause, which consists of both: (1) causation in fact, and (2) foreseeability. A plaintiff must prove that his or her injuries were the actual or factual result of the defendant's actions.
Teachers can be found liable if they have breached their duty of care. Teachers are negligent if they fail to act as a hypothetical reasonably prudent teacher (RPT) should act under the circumstances.
Elements of Negligence Negligence is a common-law tort wherein one's unintentional behavior breaches a duty of care and injures another person or persons. School districts have a duty to protect students from reasonably foresee- able risks of harm.
The duty to maintain discipline is included within the duty to supervise. A teacher is negligent for a failure to prevent injuries to his pupils from fighting," playing unusually dangerous games,9 and other breaches of disci- pline such as riding bicycles on the playground.
For example, failure to supervise the activities of young children during recess may prove to violate the standard of reasonable care. Should an injury occur that could have been prevented if a teacher were present to stop whatever activity lead to the injury, liability could exist against the teacher.
To show that negligence occurred, you have to prove four elements: duty, breach, causation, and damages. In order to prove that the teacher was negligent, all four elements of negligence must be shown. Failure to prove even one element is fatal to a personal injury lawsuit.