BATON ROUGE - A playground dispute between a pair of 5-year-olds landed before the Louisiana Supreme Court this week, and justices say a judge must determine whether one boy deliberately hurt another during a game of tag.

The case dates to 2018, when one child suffered a broken hip on the playground at St. George Catholic School. His parents sued the school, the Diocese of Baton Rouge and the parents of a boy they accuse of playing too rough.

A judge had tossed out the lawsuit. Under Louisiana law, children at that age are generally considered too young to fully understand danger.

In an appeal, the parents of the injured boy and the other child had previously “twisted his fingers” while they stood in line at school. They told a lower court judge that the other boy’s parents and the school should have known the other 5-year-old posed an unreasonable risk to others.

Lawyers took depositions from the 5-year-olds, and in a pair of decisions the First Circuit Court of Appeal ordered the case to resume. This week, the state Supreme Court agreed.

“At first glance, an injury resulting from a game of tag on a school playground involving five-year-old boys may appear to be a remote risk when balanced against the social utility of play,” the appeals court wrote. “But, there is conflicting testimony regarding whether (Child 1) had previously injured (Child 2) by twisting his fingers, whether both boys were voluntarily participating in the game of tag, and whether (Child 1)'s act of falling on (Child 2) was ‘on purpose’ or accidental,” the court wrote.

A trial is set for early next year.