Field Trip Injury Lawsuits in California
Field trips provide students with an educational opportunity beyond books. When an accident occurs off school grounds during a field trip, the question becomes one of liability. California has provided clear guidance on this matter by providing school districts with field trip immunity.
California Education Code § 35330(d) states that all individuals - teachers, students, and chaperones - who attend a field trip waive all liability in case of injury or death during the excursion. When a field trip ventures outside of California, both adults and guardians of students must sign a liability waiver.
While that would seem to be the end of the question, a school's immunity does not extend to situations involving negligence. Even when negligence occurs, a school district may use the defense of comparative liability.
Negligence
Negligence is acting or failing to act when you have a responsibility to another individual. The mere fact that someone was negligent is not sufficient to overcome a school district's immunity. For instance, if a teacher fails to secure a student's safety harness during a rock climbing activity, that could be considered negligence.
In California, to prove negligence, you must show that:
- An individual (here, likely an employee of the school district) had a duty to act, sometimes referred to as a duty of care
- This individual breached this responsibility either by their actions or failure to act
- This individual's actions resulted in an injury to another person
- This individual's actions were the proximate cause of the other person's injury
- The other person suffered an actual injury
Let's unpack what this means.
Duty of care means that the person in question had a responsibility to ensure your safety, and they had some relationship with the school district. For example, a teacher has a duty of care to their students to provide a safe learning environment.
For example, someone runs into you on a field trip and knocks you over. They break your arm. This person is not affiliated with the school district, and there's no evidence that any agent of the school district, such as a teacher, was negligent in preventing the person from running into you. In this situation, the school district will likely be considered to have immunity.
However, if a teacher tells you it's fine to walk in a restricted section, and you slip and break your arm, you may have a case against the district.
In this situation, the teacher had a duty of care to you, and they failed in that duty by telling you to go into an unauthorized area. This situation would more likely be considered sufficiently negligent to override the immunity.
Actual Injury
To file a negligence claim, you must suffer an injury. If the school bus driver on a field trip was speeding, they failed in their responsibility to the bus's riders. However, if their actions didn't injure you, you won't have grounds for a lawsuit. An injury could be physical harm like a broken bone or a psychological trauma like anxiety or depression caused by the accident.
Proximate Cause
The negligence of the person in question was the proximate cause of the accident. This means a relationship exists between that individual's negligence and your injury. Returning to the speeding school bus example, let's look at two different situations:
1. Because of the speeding bus, you fall out of your seat and break your arm. As the bus was speeding, you will likely be able to argue negligence.
2. After you arrive at the field trip destination, you exit the bus. About twenty feet from the bus, you trip on a curb and break your arm. The school district's immunity likely stands. While the driver was negligent in speeding, it would be difficult to show a relationship between speeding and tripping.
Comparative Negligence
In California, if your negligence contributed to your injury, your ability to collect damages may be reduced. This is known as comparative negligence, and California is a pure comparative fault state. This means that, even if the other party is only one percent negligent, you may still collect damages from them.
Returning to the above example, if a teacher leads students into a restricted area and a student is running when they slip, a jury may find that the student contributed to their injury.
If you think you may have contributed to your accident, you should inform your personal injury attorney of these facts early in your relationship. This early disclosure will allow your attorney to build a case that minimizes your role in the injury and maximizes your potential compensation, providing you with the support you need during this challenging time.
If you've been injured during a field trip in California, you may think that you are unable to file a lawsuit. However, if you can show that school officials failed to keep you and others reasonably safe during the field trip, you may have a case on the basis of negligence. This potential for legal action empowers you to seek justice for your injury.