As a parent or legal guardian, you do everything in your power to protect the children you’re responsible for. When a child is injured, it can cause a lot of emotional issues for the whole family, but there are other expenses to consider as well. Medical costs, pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, future medical care, and a wide range of other issues could come up. Is your child able to file a personal injury lawsuit? Not until he or she is 18 years old in most states, but as a parent or legal guardian, you may be able to file the claim yourself at this time.
What Are Common Injuries Suffered By Children?
Though many injuries are going to be the same both in children and adults, there are some unique to just children. For example, a birth injury, a playground accident and other similar injuries typically don’t affect adults. Some common causes for injuries include bicycle accidents, dog bites, drownings, pharmaceutical injuries, defective product accidents and more. These incidents could lead to spinal cord injuries, broken bones, paralysis, TBI, back injuries and other similar damages.
What Needs to Be proven in a Personal Injury Case?
For a parent or legal guardian to file a personal injury lawsuit, he or she will need to prove a few things.
- The responsible party should have acted in a way that any other reasonable individual would have acted given the same circumstances. In short, the responsible party was negligent.
- Your child has an actual injury.
- The negligence was the cause of the child’s injuries.
- There are compensable damages that can be obtained from the incident.
Can a Child File a Lawsuit Later in Life?
If you, the parent or legal guardian, file and win a lawsuit against the individual who caused injuries to your child, there’s still a chance the child could file a lawsuit when he or she turns 18 years old. While this isn’t an accepted practice in all states, there are some that allow it. The circumstances would have to be just right, but the parents could claim damages that directly affect them at the moment. Later, the child could claim damages that directly affect him or her. For example, the parents could claim medical expenses, emotional distress and other similar damages. The child could later claim pain and suffering, rehabilitation, loss of the enjoyment of life, loss of the ability to make a living, and more.
Receiving Legal Assistance
If your child has been injured by another individual, you do have somewhere to turn. Contact a personal injury lawyer today to receive legal assistance with your case.
Discuss your options with a personal injury attorney.