Why doesn't the school have the parents & students sign a release form? That surprises me. We made up forms during a family fun night so the kids could ride horses that a teacher bought in. My middle schoolers will be going on a 3 day bus trip & we have to sign waivers/releases. If they miss behave, we get a call to pick them up where ever they are at.

I remember a situation of a young man from our city on a summer college trip to Rome: he and friends were trying to "sneak" down to another room and went out the WINDOW using a sheet. The sheet tore loose, he fell out the window and broke his neck and was killed. So, yes it could happen and the parents could say you weren't watching him.
SHC

I do not have the parents sign any kind of release of liability form before we go.

That sure is scary. I suspect that children (assuming they are above the age of say 13) should have some degree of responsibility to stay with the chaperone, and thus I believe that a release of liability (placing behavior at least partly responsible on the child) would be a good idea. That doesn't mean you couldn't be negligent, but puts some degree of responsibility on the children (assuming you tried in good faith to prevent a bad situation).

You need to take at least some steps to protect you, other chaperones and the school system. That means things like having kids and their parents sign off on a code of conduct for the trip, limited liability (except as may be prohibited by law) and maybe even require some type of insurance (sure to increase costs though)

As to the actual legal ramifications, I go by the belief that a person can be sued by anyone, anywhere at any time. And there will probably be at least be some courts that would allow a suit to proceed (valid or not) and that means $$$, even if innocent.

But you bring up a good (and scary) point! I'll think twice before signing up as a chaperone again!

I think you need to contact your school district's legal counsel. Only they could tell you what you would be responsible for in such a situation. The school district would probably be a likely target for a law suit also since the trips are school sponsored events.

Hello!

New here.

I teach German as a foreign language. I often take student groups to Germany on tours and sometimes as an exchange, the students of mine live with host families in Berlin.

I am always along on these trips and luckily I have never had any legal problems in Germany or any legal problems with the parents of my students back here in the US.

I have often wondered (and worried) about what would happen if something tragic did happen to one of my students while we were overseas.

Just as a hypothetical example let's say that I was truly negligent, that I was drunk while I should have been watching the kids, a student of mine also gets drunk in my presence and then wanders into the street to be killed by a bus.
(I know its extreme but I want to draw a picture that makes ME obviously negligent).

Now here is my question: Can a parent successfully sue me in a civil court in my state for damages that occured in a different country?

For instance, I assume that if I were to injure someone in California but I reside in Oklahoma, a plaintiff would have to see me where the injury occured. An Oklahoma judge would not hear a civil case for an event that occured in California. Wouldn't the plaintiff have to sue me in the state, county, city where the event occured?

So in my hypothetical, would an American parent have to sue me in Germany or could they sue me (and the school) here in my home state for something that happened in a different country?

I suppose I am asking here about jurisdiction.

A few more details:

The trips that I take are school sponsored.

I do not have the parents sign any kind of release of liability form before we go.

As I think about this Joran van der Sloot character from Aruba. The mother of the missing girl has served him with a civil suit here in the US when the crime supposedly occured in Aruba. That seems something like a similar case.

Of course that case has not gone to trial yet so I am not sure if a US judge will hear and try the case.

**My question is NOT, would a lawyer file a suit against me. My question is would a judge hear such a case and render a decision in a civil suit for damages OR would a judge throw out the case saying that he/she had no jurisdiction because of
the location of what happened.