An injury—especially a debilitating one with lifelong effects—is something everyone fears, but when it happens to a child, who has yet to experience every that life has to offer, that kind of injury becomes tragic. The experience becomes even more nightmarish if the child is a member of your family, and in the event that this was an accident that didn’t have to happen, that could easily have been preventable, it’s natural for a parent to not let the irresponsible parties off the hook.
Going to court for personal injury to a child is one of the most unpleasant—and yet at the same time necessary—actions a parent can take. But there are some critical differences that families should take note of when it comes to this kind of case.
Age Is A Factor
The court will normally assume a certain amount of intelligence and common sense in an injury case for adults. When it comes to children, things change. Children under the age of six are generally assumed to be special cases where they may not necessarily “know better” because they are still in the process of acquiring practical life experience. So while an adult would avoid touching an open flame because they know they will get burned, a baby or toddler may have never seen a flame before, and subsequently want to investigate it by touching it.
Conversely, this changes as the age of the child increases. A 13 year old child may still be considered a minor, but if there are signs everywhere saying “Do not touch, burn risk,” and the child ignores those signs and deliberately climbs barriers and opens a panel to touch the flame, the court is not going to allow that same claim of ignorance to apply to an older, more educated child.
Parental Duty Matters
The other factor that will be strongly considered is the parent’s role in the accident. If a child is injured in something like a vehicular accident where the parents were obeying normal traffic laws, it’s obvious that no one in the car is at fault. However, in other situations, parents do have a basic responsibility to look after the welfare of their child. If a parent locks a child in a car, on a hot day, then goes into a casino to gamble, only to return and find that the child has lost consciousness from heat and insufficient oxygen, that parent cannot take the casino or car manufacturer to court. The court will always look to see that a parent was exercising their basic legal obligation to care of their child and in cases where a parent is negligent in that duty, they cannot attempt to transfer the blame for the child’s injury to other parties.
However, if you are a caring, responsible parent, and your child suffers an injury through no fault of your or their own, then it is time to make the responsible parties answer for their negligence. And that is when you should get an experienced
personal injury lawyer to pursue your case.
