My son rides the school bus he is 6..a student kicked him in the mouth which resulted with him losing two teeth ..driver states he was unaware until my son was at his stop.i want to know if the driver or the company is responsible for not following protocol.
What protocal did the driver not follow? The general rule is that the driver has to be aware that other other child was a danger to your child or that the incident went on long enough that the driver had time to intervene, failed to do so and that resulted in the injury.
The answer is, it depends. Was there a history of bad behavior of the child that kicked your son? Did the other child ever hurt anyone else? Was there a matron on the bus? Should there have been a matron on the bus? You should use the Find a Lawyer tool to find a lawyer and then call them to have your questions answered.
Perhaps, but it is not an easy case to establish. There are numerous court decisions dismissing cases on similar facts as this. You need to contact qualified counsel who is familiar with municipal liability cases; even if this is a private school/bus company, many of the requirements that need to be established overlap. Be aware of short filing requirements for City cases. Speedy recovery to your son.
Possibly. Did the bus have a surveillance camera? If so, you may be able to determine if the driver should have had notice of a problem and been able to stop it in a timely manner.
I believe the short answer is yes. The bus company is responsible to keep order on the bus and should not allow students to hit other students. There are questions which need to be answered as attorney Stein notes. Was there a matron on the bus? Was her or she aware of the situation? if not, why not? if there was no matron on the bus, should there have been? Do the local rules require one for your school district? How old was the child who kicked you son? Did the bus co, or the school district know he's hit other students before? These are all questions which should be answered as a case proceeds. I am sorry to hear you son lost 2 teeth. This does not sound like a "casual" hit, and sounds to me that it was a possibly older student who did it.
Your claim is one of negligent supervision. It may be against the school district if the bus drivers are employees if the school district. If so, be mindful that you have to file a Notice of Claim with the City of New York within 90 days or you will be precluded from bringing a lawsuit. Or it may be against the bus company, if the driver is not employed by the District. In either event, you have a tough case with many hurdles. if the assault was spontaneous and not the culminating event of a prolonged altercation, then you would have no claim as even the most diligent security would not necessarily have prevented a spontaneous action. Does the student have a history of aggressive behavior with your son? Is the school aware of the student's previous actions? Such facts might prove that the school was on notice of the student's aggressive behavior and perhaps liable. You need to get a consultation with a qualified attorney.
The bus operator, and in this case the bus driver, does have certain duties with regard to the supervision of student bus passengers for the purposes of safety and conduct. However the duty generally only extends to a situation whereby the driver had actual prior knowledge of the altercation that was about to occur. A spontaneous altercation between students is generally not the basis for a lawsuit against the bus operator or the school district. I recommend that you obtain as much information as possible concerning the circumstances surrounding the incident. This would include any written incident or accident memos prepared by the bus company and the school district. Finally, you should consult with an attorney in order to discuss time limitations for the purposes of filing in order to protect your rights.
The question is not "was he aware?" but rather "should he have been aware that this was going to happen, and if so, did he have the opportunity to prevent it?" The school can only be held liable if the driver knew this was about to happen and could have stopped it, but allowed it to happen anyway.
