Would you think this would be a valid and successful lawsuit ?

I would think the parents of the kids have insurance to cover that under their homeowners policy. But, I am not an insurance expert. Will the nurse help her verify what she observed. Are the parents and kids going to lie? If the kids did nothing wrong why did they run out?

The nurse won’t help at all because the attorney said he doubts she’d win. The kids were responsible and I assume horrified when she was on the floor screaming. Their mother came in to pull them out of the bathroom as the nurses ran in. Then she was put on a stretcher and taken to the ER.

Has your friend contacted the mother of the kids? Maybe your friend can draw up a document for costs she has incurred and also releasing the mom/kids from any future illness related to the accident. That way they can take some responsibility but not worry that hey will be on the hook the rest of your friends life, kind of like a settlement. She won’t be suing, but trying to reach an ethical compromise. She could wait until she is more healed to do it, and the bills have come in. Also, if her bills are very expensive I am surprised her health insurance has not inquired about the details of the accident and maybe gone after the kids/parents.

The doctors office has to have some sort of accident report somewhere that names the parents of the kids involved. She should be able to get that. I would talk to another attorney.

@JLeslie she has health insurance and Medicare so I guess her expenses were minimal. This is strictly a pain and suffering situation.

I’ve heard pain and suffering is difficult to fight for in general. I don’t know if that is true.

I must be missing something. Who is it that should be sued and for what reason?

@LostInParadise The children created an unsafe environment.

The clinic ignored the squealing and laughing of a bunch of kids spraying each other in the bathroom causing my friend to break her kneecap in half. I think, but am not certain, that some hospitals or clinics have been sued for negligence when the employees were, well, negligent. The lady victim informed me today , in her words, that the mother of these darlings was laying on a loveseat in the waiting room covered with tattoos and upon seeing what had transpired, grabbed her kids and ran out of the clinic. Not even a “sorry, lady” escaped her lips.

@Aster I agree she could go after the hospital. I was in the mall a week ago and a parent was letting a little girl climb onto her brother’s stroller and onto a display table. I watch her climb up and down once, employees passing by, and the when she went to climb up aagain I went over to stop her and see where her parents was. But, the employees should have done something because they can be sued, it is on their property.

I would contact another attorney. At the very least, the clinic will have insurance that will cover the claim.

The hospital staff could probably have heard the kids laughing, but that is not a reason for them to barge into the bathroom. It is questionable if the sound of splashing water was audible from the outside. The mother was rude, but you can’t sue her for that. I am sorry that the woman was injured, but I do not see a clear case of neglect.

^^^^^^^^ they only barged into the bathroom because my friend was on the floor screaming her head off. They may or may not have heard the splashing water but if I had to guess I’d say they heard the kids laughing. I wonder if my friend had slipped, hit her head and died if a lawsuit would be reasonable?

@Aster As long as it happened on their property she can try to get some sort of settlement.

Individuals and businesses have liability insurance coverage for situations exactly like this, @Aster. If someone gets hurt on your property, your homeowner’s insurance policy should have liability coverage to protect you and to cover compensatory and punitive damages.

You can’t get money for injuring yourself on someone’s property unless you can show negligence.

@LostInParadise . not necessarily true. Just the threat of a law suit can get an insurance company to cough up cash just so they don’t have to pay to fight it. I’m in California though and it’s a pretty sue happy state.

@LostInParadise A company I worked for was self insured. Every time $100 was spent on treating someone who was injured in the store, the store had to contribute $15k into the pot. It actually varied, some years it was less depending on how the year before was, but usually $12k to $15k. Anyway, the way they looked at it was some lawsuits or settlements would get hundreds of thousands, and some people it would just be the trip to the hospital to get checked. Often, people got some sort of settlement even if the customer themselves had been idiots and the store basically did nothing wrong. It’s why we were all told as associates there to go ahead and tell children to stop playing on escalators and not to go to the center of the round racks full of clothes. The parents might be to blame for letting their children do something dangerous, but in the end if the accident happened on store property the store might wind up paying. If it went to court the store might win, but often a few thousand dollars and the whole mess went away. Not that everyone tried to takeadvantage of it, but some stores definitely had more people who took advantage than others.

Are you people suggesting that the woman threaten a law suit and aim for a settlement even though she does not have a legitimate case?

With all due respect, who are you to say she doesn’t have a legitimate reason to be compensated for her injuries, @LostInParadise? At least seek the counsel of another attorney or in the very least, contact the owner of the clinic and discuss what happened and see what happens.

As an aside ”… covered with tattoos… ” I can’t help but wonder @Aster what relevance that has to the case in point? Years ago tattoos may have been suggestive of a person’s character, I stress the may but these days many people from all walks of life have tattoos it seems totally unjustifiable to infer anything from their presence.

@LostInParadise I was only saying people do it when they don’t have a legitimate case. Personally I find that disgusting. Originally, at the top, I said go after the parents of the children, because the children’s unruliness did contribute to the accident. If the hospital workers could here them playing around, then yes, I find them at fault too. Like I said, I constantly go places where employees say nothng about unruly kids, or kids who simply don’t realize the consequences of their actions, and the employees should. Literally should to be protecting it’s own interests, even forgetting about someone might God forbid get hurt possibly with permanent problems. If your children were throwing water on your walkway in the winter and the UPS slipped on it, that is your liability, you did not provide a reasonbly safe environment on your property. It’s a hospital. At minimum they can not charge medicare for the medical care, but of course that will never happen, so they get off easy fnancially that way. Her insurance can go after the insurance of the parents of the children.

@Adagio I was simply saying exactly what my friend told me. I apologize if I offended anyone. She said, as the children were spraying water on each other and laughing, the mother was laying down on a loveseat covered in tattoos. Maybe I should have left
that part out in case any jellies have a tattoo and are sensitive to anyone mentioning them.

I didn’t think it was offensive. Just descriptive, @Aster.