An incident in front of a Hebertshausen kindergarten concerned the Munich regional court on Tuesday. The question was: Who is liable if kindergarten children cause damage?
Hebertshausen/Munich
– Because children damaged his car, the 63-year-old owner is now suing the kindergarten. Damage amounting to 9,000 euros was caused because children from the Hebertshausen St. George kindergarten threw stones and sticks over the fence. The Munich regional court now addressed the question of whether the educators had breached their duty of supervision.
“They're just children,” said the deputy head of the Hebertshausen St. Georg kindergarten during the hearing on Wednesday, referring to the unpredictability of her protégés. The owner of the car at which three of the children threw stones and branches did not want to be satisfied with the explanation. He sued the legal entity of the Catholic kindergarten at the Munich regional court for damages.
The 63-year-old plaintiff recalled that Friday in April last year that his daughter, to whom he had lent his car, called him at lunchtime. She said she was “dissolved” by the stones, branches and dents on his car. The 26-year-old, who was invited as a witness, added that she had only parked the vehicle for a quarter of an hour in one of the parking bays reserved for community employees next to the kindergarten. She didn't see how the damage happened.
There were three children from the star group
It quickly turns out that there were three children from the star group, one six years old and the other two five years old. The two girls and the boy admitted this immediately, reported the deputy head of the kindergarten.
The damage is significant: the 63-year-old has sued for almost 9,000 euros. In addition to sheet metal parts, the car's windshield was apparently also damaged.
“I’m terribly sorry for the damage,” admitted the head of the kindergarten, but emphasized that she and the ten other teachers who looked after the 85 children that day had not violated their duty of supervision. In the outdoor area, designed as a natural garden, there are, among other things, bushes, caves, a tree house and a shed. Apparently the three children had collected around 20 stones and branches from the area, hid behind the shed and thrown the objects over the fence.
There are “very strict gardening rules,” emphasized the manager. This also includes the ban on playing behind the shed. The rules are discussed with the children at the beginning of each kindergarten year “and then again and again”. The judge wanted to know how compliance with the rules is checked, especially in “hidden corners”. She and her colleagues would spread out in the garden so that “someone is always looking in” even behind the sheds. The manager was certain that the narrow path could have been left unattended for a maximum of 15 minutes.
Judge: Not everything is a question of liability
Unusual: After the evidence was taken, a lively discussion developed with the witnesses, who remained in the courtroom as listeners. The plaintiff was certain that the children could not have gotten the stones and branches behind the shed “in a minute.” Yes, replied the manager: namely if they had packed them in jackets and buckets. The plaintiff's wife also added that there must have been a "rear banging noise" when the stones flew against the windshield. The kindergarten director replied that the noise was probably drowned out by the screaming of raging children.
“It's not all a liability case,” the judge pointed out, but added: She will closely examine whether the educators' control measures correspond to what courts have considered necessary in similar cases. At the same time, the judge suggested talking to the kindergarten's liability insurer about a settlement solution. If no agreement is reached, the court will decide on May 16th.