San Francisco State students hurt on campus can seek compensation for recovery costs from the California State University system. This should include full support for all medical bills.
Maison Law of San Francisco represents injured students and demands compensation for victims when universities are negligent in keeping them safe.
We provide a free, no-obligation consultation for all victims and their families. Contact us to set up a confidential case review to find out what an injury should be worth and how to hold universities fully responsible.
Do I Need a Lawyer After My Child Was Injured While Attending San Francisco State?
If your child is hurt in a campus accident, but comes away with just minor bumps and bruises, you might not need a lawyer’s help with your case. But if your accident involves a serious injury, like a fracture or a Traumatic Brain Injury, and CSU San Francisco’s negligence is to blame, it’s smart to speak to a lawyer.
A serious injury means recovery bills will run high. It makes lawyers for the California State University system fight harder to escape blame.
A skilled California College Premises Liability Lawyer is a safeguard for your case when universities try their best to avoid liability for their negligence.
These are a few of the tactics that University Lawyers and liability insurance companies can use to rob you of support:
- Blaming an accident on students and saying they caused their own accidents by being clumsy or perhaps careless.
- Questioning how bad the student’s injuries are as an excuse to offer them less for your medical care.
- Offering a quick settlement offer if your family doesn’t have a lawyer, hoping you don’t realize the real value of your child’s injury and case.
- Delaying a response to your child’s claim, hoping you get more and more frustrated and desperate as medical bills come due.
- Offering you a “lowball” settlement offer, hoping you and your family are financially stressed enough to accept any amount.
- Making you face off against teams of lawyers and unhelpful insurance adjusters.
Your lawyer fully investigates what happened to your child and collects all evidence to show how the CSU was to blame. Then your lawyer gets aggressive to secure everything your child needs to rebuild their life. The settlement amount is often much more than if you decided to take on a major university yourself.
Who Can I Sue If I’m Hurt on Campus?
An injury on Campus at San Francisco State can leave the school and the parent school system liable for recovery costs. Students would file a claim against the California State University system’s liability insurance provider.
In California, owners and operators of public places and institutions are liable for the safety of all visitors. They must monitor for the accident risks that might be created by their own employees or by the contractors they hire. They must also monitor for any obstacles, like a drink spilled in the cafeteria, that students can carelessly leave behind.
These dangers must be fixed and/or cleaned up before the next student comes along and is placed in harm’s way. When school officials are too slow to act, they can be liable for a student’s every medical expense.
Why A Case Against a California State University Comes with Unique Challenges
But the support isn’t automatic, and victims are often forced to provide evidence of who was at fault, even when the negligence is clear. State institutions also have certain legal immunities from lawsuits that block injured students with red tape.
These are just a few of the difficult standards universities can hold students to:
These are just a few of the legal protections public entities can hide behind after an accident:
- Shorter cut-off for filing an injury claim (just months in some cases). Students need to meet these sneaky deadlines, or they could forfeit their right to support.
- Alerting the school to the possibility of a claim. Students must file a notice with the CSU system alerting them to what happened and their legal intentions. Students are basically seeking permission to file a claim.
- Students will be asked to fill out complicated paperwork correctly, and it must be filed on time.
- Students will likely be taking on teams of state lawyers, ready to find holes in their cases.
A skilled attorney can help students and their families observe all deadlines and file the correct paperwork to the right offices. A Maison Lawyer gets aggressive to make sure it’s the school and their insurers who have to worry about recovery costs and deadlines.
Common Campus Hazards for CSU San Francisco Students
Maison Law can help families file claims over these and other accident hazards:
- Slip-and-fall and trip-and-fall injuries when stepping on hazards in hallways, in campus bathrooms, in dorms, in cafeterias, in parking lots, and elsewhere.
- Fall injury hazards on stairs, platforms, decks, and along unsecured railings.
- Injuries at sporting events for the Gators, in unsafe gyms, auditoriums, and other facilities where people gather.
- Injuries suffered on field trips or at off-campus study sites. Injuries sustained on satellite campuses.
- Drownings, near-drownings, and other accidents at the Natatorium
- Injuries suffered at sorority or fraternity houses and at Greek events.
- Electrical shock injuries in dorms and classrooms.
- Burns and inhalation injuries due to hazardous substances, like heavy-duty cleaners and chemicals used in labs.
- Injuries that could have been prevented by a better-trained staff.
- Injuries caused or made worse by unqualified faculty or staff who may not have had proper background checks.
- Injuries caused by criminal acts allowed by negligent security. This might involve the college providing poor lighting, broken security cameras, and door locks on buildings like West Grove Commons, which might not keep unauthorized people out. The negligence may involve a lack of security guards that allows an assault to occur.
Sidewalk Accident Risks at Cal State San Francisco
The “duty of care” Cal State must show its students continues as they park, get out of their cars, and use sidewalks to get to class. Sidewalks with heavy use and suffering damage from tree roots can become very hazardous for pedestrians.
Sidewalks can start to crumble or develop uneven surfaces, leading to tripping and slipping risks. Large cracks in concrete, about the size of a bicycle tire, can send riders of their bikes to suffer injuries.
Trash should be monitored for and cleared before students can slip or trip on a sidewalk and fall to the concrete or even into traffic.
A skilled slip-and-fall lawyer can help the victims of sidewalk accidents earn what they require to get back on their feet and get back to class.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Type of Evidence Should I Gather After an Accident at CSU San Francisco?
See to your safety first. Call for an ambulance if you are hurt. Then, if the scene is secure and you feel like moving around, try to collect some important details about your accident. Take several photos of the obstacle that caused you to fall. Alert campus police or a school employee so that an incident report can be filled out. Get contact information from witnesses. Note any security cameras in the area, so your lawyer can request a copy of the footage before it’s erased. When you meet with an attorney, bring this evidence with you. Also, bring any medical invoices you have. Bring your medical charts. If you’ve missed time at your place of work, bring your pay stubs showing what you’ve lost while you haven’t been able to work.
What types of things are compensated in a premises liability accident settlement?
The victim’s biggest expense will likely be medical bills, and every cost must be compensated. The physical pain and emotional trauma a student is put through must also factor into a settlement check. The student’s lost income while they are away from a Campus job must be reimbursed. The student must receive the university’s help in resetting their college educational track if they must miss weeks or entire semesters of classes.
Can parents seek support if a child is killed in a CSU campus accident?
Yes. California empowers families to file wrongful death claims after a tragic death. A Maison Law wrongful death lawyer can help loved ones demand justice and earn the support they need to protect themselves in the future. They should receive reimbursement for their funeral bills and any leftover hospital invoices. They must also earn support for the loss of companionship they must cope with in the years ahead. Our compassionate attorneys can handle this frustrating process while providing as little disruption to grieving families as possible.
Contact a CSU San Francisco Premises Liability Attorney
Maison Law aggressively protects students and their families after an accident on San Francisco State’s campus.
Maison Law offers a free and confidential case consultation to all victims who suffer harm on campus or at a Greek house. Contact us today and let us answer your questions and go over the best options for holding a school or organization responsible for their negligence.
No Worries About Paying a Lawyer. There’s no obligation, but if you feel we can help you earn more in support, you won’t need any money to hire us. Maison Law doesn’t get paid unless we win your case for you and your family. Then our fee comes out of the settlement that a university is forced to provide.
Additional Resources:
California Fraternity Accident Lawyer
