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Am I responsible for my child injuring another?

October 12, 2018

Question

A friend was watching my 3 children for the day. They are2, 5, and 8. She allowed the children outside unsupervised and my 8 year old and her 7 year old were sword fighting with sticks and my 8 year old accidentally hit her 3 year old in the eye. ...

Answer

To answer your question, technically speaking, you could be sued. NY has a Parental Responsibility Law for the wrongful acts of children aged 10 and over: see N.Y. General Obligations Law 3-112. You may also be liable at common law for the foreseeable acts of a child under 10, but do you want to have this escalate to a lawsuit? You might want to consider offering to pay for the kid's medical bill, since your child injured her child.

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