Lawsuit of the Day

The background: According to Investors Business Daily:

Fearing lawsuits over injuries, a West Virginia county is removing swing sets from elementary schools. . .

Roughly a year after a child broke his arm jumping off a swing like Superman and [as] his parents are settling a lawsuit for $20,000, Cabell County, W.V., schools are yanking swing sets from school playgrounds. The lawsuit was one of two filed in the last year against Cabell County schools over swing set injuries, the West Virginia Record reported Thursday. School safety manager Tim Stewart, who is overseeing the removal, said he sees "a high potential when it comes to swings and lawsuits."

The law: West Virginia's Code of State Rules, 126 C.S.R. § 172, Policy 6200, Section 205.01(2):

Kindergarten -- All centers housing kindergarten programs shall provide a segregated paved area and an area with climbing equipment and swings.

The outcome: According to the county school website:

Cabell County Schools has announced that it has halted its planned removal of swings from the district's playgrounds. After consulting with the West Virginia Department of Education’s Office of School Facilities, the district has discovered that, according to West Virginia Board of Education Policy 6200, swings are required at its elementary schools. . .

All elementary schools in Cabell County offer Kindergarten programs, therefore the swings must remain.

So, as the Associated Press summarizes, for now Cabell County "students can keep on swinging."

The lesson: Two, actually. First, as Pattterico says, "Civil [plaintiffs' tort] lawyers are ruining this country." But also, as W. Va. writer/blogger Don Surber observes, for once, the nanny state "just got spanked."