What to Do If Your Child Is Injured at School in Fort Myers

By David B. Pittman, Esq. — Founder, Pittman Law Firm, P.L. | Last updated May 12, 2026

A parent picks up the phone, voice tight, and the story usually starts the same way: the school called, my child is hurt, and nobody can tell me what happened. I have handled enough of these calls over the years to know that the first forty-eight hours decide more about the case than anything that happens later.

This is not a generic guide. Fort Myers parents are dealing with a particular set of rules — sovereign immunity for the Lee County public schools, a different rulebook for the private and parochial schools along Cleveland Avenue and McGregor Boulevard, short notice deadlines, and a 2023 statute change that quietly cut the lawsuit window in half. The advice that works in another state will get you in trouble here. Let me walk through what we actually see, what the law says, and what to do.

What Florida law actually says about school-injury cases

Three statutes do most of the heavy lifting in these cases, and each one needs a plain-English follow-up because the statute number alone tells you nothing.

§768.28, Fla. Stat. — Florida’s sovereign immunity statute. The Lee County School District is a government entity. You cannot just sue it the way you would sue a driver who ran a red light on Daniels Parkway. The statute waives immunity in a limited way, but it caps recovery at $200,000 per person and $300,000 per incident, and it requires written pre-suit notice to both the school district and the Florida Department of Financial Services. The clock on that notice is short, and missing it almost always ends the case before it begins. Read §768.28 here.

§95.11(4)(a), Fla. Stat. — the two-year deadline. In March 2023 the Florida Legislature cut the statute of limitations for negligence cases from four years down to two. For a school injury that happened after March 24, 2023, you have two years from the date of the injury to file the lawsuit. Tolling rules for minors can sometimes extend that, but I do not recommend planning around tolling. Move on the assumption you have two years and let the deadline drive the calendar. Read §95.11 here.

§768.81, Fla. Stat. — modified comparative negligence. Same 2023 reform changed the fault rules. If a jury finds the injured person more than fifty percent at fault, recovery is zero. Below fifty percent, the recovery is reduced by the assigned share. For school cases, this matters less when the child is very young, because Florida juries are often told that small children cannot be assigned fault at all. It matters more when the injured student is a teenager and the defense argues horseplay. Read §768.81 here.

One more thing that surprises parents. PIP under §627.736 is a motor-vehicle no-fault benefit. It does not pay for a playground fall, a fight in the hallway, or a chemistry burn in the science lab. Health insurance is the first payer in a school case, and the health plan will likely later assert a lien against any recovery. Sorting that out is part of the case work.

Seven school-injury fact patterns we handle in Fort Myers

Calls about school injuries cluster into a handful of recurring patterns. Each one has a different evidence problem and a different liability theory.

• Playground equipment failures. Cracked plastic, exposed bolts, fall surfaces that have not been topped off in years. These cases turn on the school’s maintenance records and inspection logs.
• Inadequate supervision during recess or transitions. One paraprofessional watching forty kids in three directions on a fenced lot off Colonial Boulevard. The teacher ratio and the school’s own staffing policy become the centerpiece.
• PE and sports injuries. Missing helmets, missing mouth guards, a coach who told the student to play through a concussion. Florida’s youth-athlete head-injury rules sit on top of the general negligence claim here.
• Bus and bus-stop injuries. A child struck while crossing to or from the bus, often along Pine Island Road or Summerlin Road. These cases involve both the district and potentially a third-party driver.
• Bullying and fights staff failed to intervene in. The school’s own incident-report history is the evidence — pattern of behavior the school knew about, and what it did or did not do.
• Field trips and off-campus activities. Permission slips do not waive a school’s duty of reasonable supervision, despite what the form might suggest.
• Chemistry, shop, and CTE program injuries. Missing safety glasses, missing guards on equipment, instructors who left the room.

The common thread is that the school district has policies for all of this, and the question in litigation is almost always whether the staff actually followed the school’s own written policy on the day of the injury.

Four ways school-injury cases go sideways for families

From the outside, parents assume a school-injury case is straightforward. The school had my kid, my kid got hurt, the school pays. The reality is harder, and a parent who walks in unprepared is going to lose.

First, the public-school cases run into sovereign immunity. Even when the facts are awful, the recovery is capped at $200,000 per person under §768.28. To go higher, the family has to ask the Florida Legislature for a claims bill, which is a multi-year political process with no guarantee of passage. I have watched families wait four legislative sessions for a claims-bill hearing.

Second, the notice-of-claim requirement is unforgiving. Sworn written notice has to go to both the school district and the Florida Department of Financial Services. The form has to be right, the service has to be right, the timing has to be right, and the agencies then get 180 days to investigate before suit can be filed. Skip a step and the court will dismiss.

Third, the documentation game is uneven. The school controls almost all of the contemporaneous evidence — incident reports, surveillance video, maintenance logs, staffing schedules, prior complaint history. Camera footage often rolls over in seven to thirty days. By the time most parents call a lawyer, half of the evidence is already gone. A preservation letter has to go out fast.

Fourth, private and parochial schools play by different rules. They are not protected by sovereign immunity and they typically carry general liability insurance. The damages are not capped, but the case still requires proving the school breached its duty of reasonable supervision under the facts.

What to do if your child is hurt at school

This list is short on purpose. I have watched too many parents try to do everything in the first twenty-four hours and burn themselves out before the case even starts. Pick the items in order.

1. Get the child a full medical workup, not just the school nurse’s note. Take the child to a pediatrician or, for anything involving the head, the abdomen, or a possible fracture, to the emergency department. Tell the treating physician everything you know about how the injury happened. The medical record made in those first hours is the most credible piece of evidence in the entire case. I have seen cases turn on a single line in an ER triage note.
2. Ask the school in writing for the incident report — same day if you can. Email the principal and copy the assistant principal. Use the words “please preserve all video, photographs, witness statements, and maintenance records relating to this incident.” A written request, time-stamped, is the single most useful document a parent can create.
3. Take photographs. Photograph the injury itself, the location if you can get to it (parking lot, playground, hallway), and the clothing the child was wearing. If you cannot get to the location, ask a friend or family member who can.
4. Write down what your child says about what happened, in your child’s own words, the day it happened. Memory fades, and children re-tell stories in ways that drift. A short, dated note in your phone is enough. Do not coach. Just write it down.
5. Keep every piece of paper. The discharge summary, the prescription receipts, the mileage to and from appointments, the days you missed work, the days the child missed school. These become the damages spreadsheet later. A shoebox is fine. Email folders are fine. The form does not matter — the saving does.
6. Stay off social media about the injury. Defense lawyers read parents’ Facebook posts. A photo of your child smiling at the beach two weeks after a concussion will be on a deposition exhibit list six months later. Just stay off.
7. Call a lawyer before you give a recorded statement to anyone. The school’s insurance carrier will ask for a recorded statement. So might a third-party administrator. A parent who answers those questions cold, without counsel, almost always says something the defense uses later. The conversation is free. Have it first.

Key Takeaways

• Public schools in Lee County are government entities. Recovery against them is capped at $200,000 per person, $300,000 per incident under §768.28, Fla. Stat., and a written pre-suit notice is required.
• The Florida statute of limitations for negligence is now two years under §95.11(4)(a), Fla. Stat., cut from four years in the 2023 reform. The clock starts on the date of the injury for adult-style cases — minor-tolling rules apply in narrow circumstances and should not be planned around.
• Private and parochial schools are not protected by sovereign immunity and typically carry general liability insurance, but you still have to prove a breach of the duty of supervision.
• Florida moved to modified comparative negligence in 2023. Anyone more than fifty percent at fault recovers nothing. Very young children are typically not assigned fault at all.
• The school controls the contemporaneous evidence and the camera footage rolls over fast. Send a written preservation request the same day you learn about the injury.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. How long do I have to file a claim against a Lee County public school after my child is injured?
You must serve written pre-suit notice on the school district and the Florida Department of Financial Services within three years of the injury under §768.28(6), Fla. Stat., and you should do it much sooner. The agency then has 180 days to investigate before you can file suit. The underlying lawsuit deadline is two years from the date of the injury under §95.11(4)(a), Fla. Stat., though tolling rules for minors can extend that in narrow circumstances. Waiting is the most common reason a strong case dies.

Q2. What is the damages cap for a public school injury in Florida?
Florida sovereign immunity under §768.28 caps recovery against a government entity at $200,000 per person and $300,000 per incident. If the verifiable damages exceed that, families can ask the Florida Legislature for a claims bill, which is a separate, lengthy legislative process. Private schools are not subject to this cap because they are private actors.

Q3. Does a permission slip waive my right to sue if my child is hurt at school?
Usually no. Florida courts have been reluctant to enforce pre-injury releases signed by a parent on behalf of a minor, especially when the activity is school-supervised and the harm comes from negligent supervision or unsafe conditions. The release language matters, the activity matters, and whether the school followed its own safety policy matters. Do not assume the form you signed ends the conversation.

Q4. What if my child contributed to the accident at school?
Florida moved to modified comparative negligence in 2023 under §768.81, Fla. Stat. If the injured person is found more than 50 percent at fault, they recover nothing. Below that threshold, recovery is reduced by the assigned share of fault. With younger children, juries are often instructed that very young children cannot be assigned negligence at all because they are not capable of appreciating the risk. The age and maturity of the child drive that analysis.

Q5. Will PIP or my health insurance pay for my child’s medical bills from a school injury?
PIP under §627.736, Fla. Stat. only applies to motor vehicle crashes, so it does not cover a fall on the playground or a bus-stop fight. Your private health insurance typically pays first, subject to deductibles and co-pays, and the carrier may later assert a lien against any settlement. Florida Medicaid and Medicare also assert liens. Sorting out who gets paid back out of a recovery is part of the work we do at the end of a case.

Talk to a Fort Myers attorney before the evidence disappears

If your child has been hurt at a school in Lee or Collier County, the most useful thing you can do today is get a straight read on the case before the camera footage rolls over and the notice clock runs. Our office takes these calls personally. Call 239-992-8259 for a free consultation. There is no fee unless we recover for you.

About the Author

David B. Pittman, Esq. has practiced personal injury law in Fort Myers and across Lee County for more than thirty years, and is the founder of Pittman Law Firm, P.L. The firm’s Fort Myers presence handles a steady stream of serious-injury work along the Daniels Parkway, Six Mile Cypress, McGregor Boulevard, Cleveland Avenue, and Summerlin Road corridors, and along I-75 between Estero and Bell Tower, representing injured clients across Lee and Collier Counties, with a particular focus on commercial-vehicle, complex-liability, and serious-injury cases.

His undergraduate years were at The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina; his law degree is from the University of South Carolina School of Law. He carries an AV-Preeminent rating at Martindale-Hubbell and Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum membership.

David has held a Florida real estate broker license for twenty-five years, a credential that shapes how the firm reads the property side of premises cases. The firm handles personal injury cases across Lee and Collier Counties, serving Fort Myers, Bonita Springs, Naples, Cape Coral, Estero, and Lehigh Acres, with offices at Windsor Place in Bonita Springs (main) and Fort Myers (satellite). Call 239-992-8259 for a free consultation.

Disclaimer: The information on this page is general legal information and is not legal advice for any specific situation. Reading this article does not create an attorney-client relationship with Pittman Law Firm, P.L. Every case turns on its own facts. This is attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.