Just about every parent’s worst nightmare is their child getting seriously injured in circumstances that are completely outside of their control, especially if it happens specifically because of another adult’s misconduct. Unfortunately, this exact scenario plays out almost every day in Tempe and across the state of Arizona, often resulting in injuries and losses that will negatively impact the children involved for years or even decades to come.
As the parent or guardian of a minor child, you have the right to take legal action on your child’s behalf in the event they get hurt in a serious accident, as well as to retain a personal injury attorney to assist you with their claim. Having help from a Tempe child injury lawyer can be especially important to achieving a favorable result from cases of this nature, since there are some unique rules and restrictions applicable to them which do not apply to cases built around injuries to adults.
Demanding Fair Compensation on a Minor’s Behalf
Unfortunately, young children are particularly susceptible to suffering permanent and debilitating injuries from accidents which may not have such dramatic effects on fully grown adults. This means it is very often vital when pursuing a personal injury claim on a child’s behalf to account for losses the injury is likely to cause months or even years into the future, such as:
- Lost overall quality of life
- Physical pain and suffering
- Lost future working and earning capacity
- Psychological trauma and emotional anguish
- Long-term medical expenses, including costs of things like crutches, wheelchairs, and physical therapy
- Lost wages for a parent who needs to stay home and care for their child, or for the costs of in-home assistance
As a child injury lawyer in Tempe could further explain, though, it is often necessary to seek formal court approval for any settlement agreement over an injury to a child, sometimes even for relatively small damage awards.
Are Adults Always Liable for Injuries to Children?
Children can get hurt in almost all of the same scenarios as adults, including car accidents, slips and falls, medical negligence, and dog bites. There are also circumstances specific to children, such as school bus accidents and negligent childcare or supervision. While people under 18 can technically be “negligent” under certain circumstances, it is far more common for an adult to be the one considered liable for an injury that a child accidentally sustains. In fact, there are some situations where an adult could be liable for a child’s injury when they would not be liable for an injury suffered by an adult—for instance, if a child is injured by an unsecured “attractive nuisance” like a swimming pool which led to them trespassing onto someone else’s property.
All that being said, though, courts will not just assume that a particular adult is legally liable for a child’s injuries just because they were involved in the accident that led to that child getting hurt. The parent or guardian taking legal action on their child’s behalf will still hold the burden of proving that a specific reckless or careless act committed by the “defendant” adult qualified as a “breach” of a duty they had to protect the child from reasonably preventable harm, and that this “breach” was the direct cause of their child’s injuries and subsequent losses. A Tempe child injury attorney could go into more specific detail during a private initial meeting about how civil claims built around legal “negligence” like this tend to work in practice.
Contact a Tempe Child Injury Attorney for Assistance
While money alone cannot completely erase the trauma that a young child may suffer due to a serious accident, it can do a lot to ease the financial and physical burdens that an accident may place on them and their family. However, getting paid what you need to account for your child’s injury can be far from a simple process, especially if you try to pursue a civil claim without professional legal assistance.
Instead of going it alone, consider working with a Tempe child injury lawyer with more than three decades of experience helping families just like yours around the Phoenix area. Call the Phillips Law Group today to discuss your options.
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