Legal Thingies no.2

[Black Sheep]

Sorry it's not surf releated but I was impressed with the other legal thingie thread and would certainly appreciate any advise on the following.
I'm currently in dispute with my daughters ex nursery over fees. We withdrew her last year and gave 7 days notice but subsquently found out it was a months notice required or a months fees which they are pursuing. The were numerous reasons for taking her out and I regret not doing it sooner. The nursery claims they have a legal contract with us which was signed by my wife. I'm claiming they breached that contract when they failed in their duty of care to my daughter when a boy got access to a pair of scissors and cut chunks out of her hair. This was in a fully supervised room with cctv and i view it as more than normal biting/scratching. Unfortunatly this was last March and as I left my daughter in the nursery until Sept, the nursery are arguing I was obviously happy with them. It was the start of a few concerns which we are arguing backwards and forwards.
Today I recieved a letter from them and they claim that "duty of care is an aim, objective and expectation of the nursery but not a term and condition of the financial contract". Now I always thought I was paying for a service which included my daughters health and safety as a given. This means anything could happen on their premises and they would still expect payment however unhappy I am.
Has anyone experienced similar or can give any advise or pointers as this is becoming really annoying.
Thanks in advance
Ross

[Vultch]

I'v limited knowledge but i think 1 month is taken as an average norm for a contract to be terminated.
But due to the incident which sounds kinda scary a kid with scissors cutting hair of another kid is serious. Dont these places have to pass a local authority check You could suggest complaining to the local authority and stirring up all sorts with local media.. newspapers radio stations etc.
I dont think anybody really looks forward to a court session and the bad publicity the nursery would attract.
Put it to them politely "thats your course of action"

But..they do have a point you did leave your child their well after the incident and i think a court would throw that out as an excuse ..you got to play on the bad PR bit

[Black Sheep]

Thanks for the reply Vultch. There are other concerns that were raised following this however they were minor and only raised verbaly. My wife did raise a concern over the temperment of one of the staff and the manhandling of the children which is documented. I believe the staff member had previously been suspended but only have this on hearsay. I should have mentioned that I'm not actually disputing the ones months notice but just the money. In my experience of nurserys I've paid and lost a deposit approx £100. I have actually offered a weeks fees as a lost deposit to the nursery as well. I'm not refusing to pay, I just want to pay what I consider reasonable.
I'm tempted to call the care commission to see what they think.
Thanks again.

[flounderbout]

IMHO you will never persuade a Court that an action that you did nothing about for 6 months was the catalyst for you leaving without giving adequate notice.
Their response is silly - it is plainly an implied term of the contract with them that they owe your daughter a duty of care. But if you are looking for a fundamental breach to justify terminating without notice then the scissors incident ain't gonna cut it I'm afraid (oops - no pun intended).