Your six-year-old is running ahead of you in a restaurant when his sneakers slip out from under him on a patch of spilled soda that nobody has mopped. Your toddler catches a foot on a cracked rubber mat at a playground and lands on her wrist. A display rack at a big-box store tips while your preteen is squeezing past it. In these moments, parents are usually focused on the emergency room, not on liability. But whether a store, restaurant, or municipality ends up paying for the surgery often depends on what happens in the first 48 hours. 

The Maryland child injury attorneys at Meyers, Rodbell & Rosenbaum have handled cases like these throughout Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. for 50 years. Here is what actually determines whether a child's fall becomes a personal injury claim.

What Does a Property Owner Owe Your Child Under Maryland Law?Child Injury on The Playground

Maryland premises liability turns on why the injured person was on the property. The duty owed is not the same for every visitor.

  • Invitees. A child shopping with a parent, eating at a restaurant, or attending a paid activity is an invitee. The owner owes the highest duty: reasonable care to keep the property safe and to inspect for hazards the owner has not yet discovered.

  • Licensees. A social guest, such as a child at a friend's birthday party, is owed a duty to be warned of known dangers that are not obvious.

  • Trespassers. The duty is minimal, though Maryland courts have recognized limited protections where children are concerned and an owner maintains an obvious attraction that draws them onto the property.

Most cases of children who fall in a store, restaurant, mall, or trampoline park are considered invitees, which is the strongest ground for a family.

Can I File a Claim if My Child Fell in a Store or Restaurant?

You can, but the case does not succeed simply because a hazard existed and a child got hurt. Maryland requires proof that the business knew or should have known about the dangerous condition and failed to fix it or warn about it in a reasonable time.

That usually breaks down into one of three theories:

  • The business created the hazard. An employee mopped without cones, overstocked a shelf, or left a pallet in an aisle.

  • The business had actual notice. Someone reported the spill, or a prior customer slipped in the same spot.

  • The business had constructive notice. The hazard existed long enough that a reasonable inspection routine would have caught it. Drying, tracked-through liquid tells a different story than a spill from 90 seconds ago.

Constructive notice is where most cases are won or lost, and it is proven with evidence that the business controls: sweep logs, inspection records, staffing schedules, prior incident reports, and security video. That footage is routinely overwritten on a short cycle, which is why a preservation demand needs to go out quickly rather than after a child finishes treatment.

What if My Child Gets Hurt on a Playground?

Playground claims are split into two very different tracks depending on who owns the equipment.

Privately Owned Playgrounds

Indoor play centers, apartment complexes, daycare centers, restaurants with play areas, and commercial trampoline parks are handled like any other business premises claim. Common failures include inadequate fall surfacing beneath equipment, broken or corroded hardware, entrapment hazards, equipment installed for the wrong age group, and missing supervision. Falls onto hard surfacing are a leading cause of serious head injuries in children. 

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's Public Playground Safety Handbook sets out the widely accepted standards for surfacing, use zones, and maintenance, and an operator's deviation from them is persuasive evidence of negligence.

Waivers deserve special mention. Many play centers ask a parent to sign one at check-in. Those documents are not automatically enforceable against a child's claim, and families should never assume a signature at the front desk ended the matter.

Public Parks and School Playgrounds

When the playground belongs to a county, a city, or a school system, the Local Government Tort Claims Act applies, and the rules change in two important ways. First, you must provide written notice of the claim within one year after the injury, and it must go to the right official, which varies by jurisdiction. Second, the statute caps a local government's liability, currently at $400,000 per individual claim and $800,000 for all claims arising from the same occurrence.

Missing that notice deadline can end an otherwise strong case, and the one-year clock does not wait for a minor to grow up. Families who suspect a public entity is responsible should get advice well before the anniversary of the injury.

Does Contributory Negligence Apply to a Child Who Falls?

It can, but not the way it applies to adults. Maryland's contributory negligence rule bars recovery for an injured person who shares any fault. Defense attorneys use it aggressively in fall cases, arguing the child was running, climbing where they should not have been, or ignoring a sign.

Maryland is one of only a handful of jurisdictions still applying this all-or-nothing fault standard, which makes anticipating the defense essential. Maryland law does exclude children from the adult standard, though. A child under five cannot be contributorily negligent as a matter of law. Older children are measured against a reasonably careful child of the same age, intelligence, and experience, not against an adult. Running on a playground is what children do, and a jury is permitted to say so.

What Evidence Matters Most After a Child's Fall?

The window for gathering proof is short. Before leaving the property, and in the days that follow:

  • Photographs. Take pictures of the hazard itself, from several angles, with something in frame for scale, before anyone cleans it up.

  • Written report. Insist on a written incident report and ask for a copy before you leave.

  • Video footage. Note whether surveillance cameras cover the area and ask, in writing, that the footage be preserved.

  • Contact information. Collect names and phone numbers for employees and any witnesses.

  • Clothing. Keep the shoes and clothing your child was wearing, unwashed.

  • Medical attention. Follow through on medical care, including every follow-up appointment, because gaps in treatment are the first thing an adjuster will point to.

Children also tend to be poor historians of their own injuries. A quiet child who stops using an arm, avoids an activity, or has new headaches may be describing something a pediatrician needs to see. Our article on life care planning after a catastrophic injury explains how lasting consequences get documented and valued when a growth plate, a joint, or a developing brain is involved.

How Long Does a Family Have to Act?

A minor's claim is tolled in Maryland until age 18. They typically have three years from then to file a claim. A parent's claim for the child's medical expenses is separate and has a three-year statute of limitations. A claim against a local government is subject to the one-year notice requirement described above.

Those timelines are not an invitation to wait. Sweep logs are discarded, video is overwritten, employees leave, and the defect gets repaired. Our child injury lawyers and our overview of how to choose the right injury attorney both start from the same premise: the case is built out of what survives the first month.