Rediculous. On the other hand, I bet some lady's kid was hurt during a fall from the monkey bars, and some young lawyer badly in need of cash convinced the mom to sue, so they did. And won. So the school's out a bucket of cash, and the playground's viewed as a liability, so out it goes.

It's pretty easy to show a tort: four elements, a duty to prevent the harm (maybe a teacher not paying close attention), a breach of that duty (teacher shown to have left kids unattended, or something like that), causation (the teacher's lack of attention was the legal cause), and damages (to the kid, money damage, hospital bills, etc.).

Lawsuits are a serious problem in this country.