Children are some of the most vulnerable members of our society. Scrutiny over their injuries is essential for holding those with fault responsible and for promoting a safer world in the future. Our West Palm Beach child injury lawyers protect the interests of families looking for help in navigating legal claims for their child’s personal injury. The availability of a claim will depend on the nature of the injury and could involve several categories of state tort and negligence laws.
The causes of injury to a child are not much different from the common causes of injury to adults. For example, lawsuits over child injury could occur in the following contexts:
Liability for child injury will depend on the underlying cause but could extend to individuals, businesses, landowners, schools, and others who fail to uphold their owed duty to the child. An attorney in West Palm Beach could determine all liable parties after a child injury.
Several legal claims could apply in a child injury case based on the cause and the party being held accountable. A West Palm Beach lawyer could review a child injury case and pursue the appropriate legal action. A few of the most common claims are:
Most legal claims for a child’s injury will involve negligence law. To hold another party accountable for a child’s injury, a claim must meet the following requirements:
This broad claim could apply in a variety of settings and will commonly involve a duty of reasonable care to the child. For example, a school that serves food to a child with a known allergy may be in breach of its duty and could be found negligent.
State premises liability law could apply when the child’s injury arises from a dangerous condition on another person’s property. Landowners have a general duty to keep their property in a reasonably safe condition and to protect or warn visitors about potentially dangerous conditions. In these cases, the precise duty owed to the injured child will depend on their visitor status on the property, with the greatest duty belonging to children on the property for a commercial purpose, such as, a child who visits an amusement park and suffers an injury from one of the rides or attractions.
Another common cause of child injury is the use of a defective product. These claims arise when a product’s defect makes it unreasonably safe for its intended use and directly causes injury. In the context of child injury, this could involve small parts that create a choking hazard and other failures to warn against uses of the product that could be especially harmful to a child.
The comparative fault rule is a concern because of its potential to limit the available compensation based on an injured person’s percentage of assigned fault. When a person is more than 50 percent responsible for their own injury, Florida Statute § 768.81(6) prevents recovery of any claims for compensation against others.
However, Florida has a presumption against child negligence and recognizes that others have a greater duty of reasonable care in these cases. This detail is especially important for parents to understand when considering settlement offers from insurance companies and liable parties. Their offers do not always fairly reflect the full scope of the increased liability they could have for a child’s injury. Our attorneys in West Palm Beach use available data to inform parents of the value of child injury claims, allowing them to make strategic choices about their case.
Claims for child injury have strict filing deadlines under Florida’s statute of limitations, generally two years from the date of injury. Meet with our attorneys to understand the applicable deadlines for your child’s injury claims and other legal issues that could play a role in obtaining compensation. Contact us to schedule a free consultation with a West Palm Beach child injury lawyer.
