Severe injuries are always traumatic. When one happens to your child, it can feel even more painful and upsetting. As you comfort your young one during this trying time, schedule a meeting with a DC child injury lawyer. We are well aware of the many hazards in Washington, DC. While they are not all avoidable, much of it is a part of growing up. When your child is injured due to another party’s negligent or intentional conduct, that is when we get involved. Moving forward, your family could receive damages that pay for the child’s healthcare needs.
An attorney with experience representing child harm cases understands that the injury your little one sustained can have a lifelong impact. Child injuries happen all the time. Many times, these injuries are self-inflicted. He likely has no claim if a child plays on the swing set and injures himself. Meanwhile, what if there should have been adult supervision, but there wasn’t any? And what if your child suffers life-altering injuries from this negligence? Even if the injury will heal in time, it can cause the child to experience post-traumatic stress symptoms as they get older and understand more about why the injury occurred. Get in touch with Roger Gelb to discuss your compensation options.
When a child becomes injured due to the intentional actions or negligence of another, their families should file personal injury claims with attorney assistance. Sadly, some injuries are so severe they result in fatalities and require wrongful death-related legal action. Among the most common child injuries represented by D.C. legal professionals include:
If a child is injured in an automobile accident, speaking to a DC child injury lawyer is critical. In a car or truck accident, there is almost no possibility that the child is at fault. This is true of all passengers. Thus, the question becomes, under whose insurance policy will the child make their claim? If you are the child’s parent and caused the accident, your rates will increase regardless of whether your child makes a claim under your policy. As the negligent driver, you may use your health insurance. However, your child is entitled to compensation for their medical expenses, lost wages and, loss of future earning capacity if applicable, and pain and suffering for having to deal with the pain.
A fall can occur anywhere. It may happen at a daycare or a school. The good news if it happens at one of these venues is that these places owe a legal duty to your child. However, there are downsides to suing a school in DC. If it is a private school, you may have options. However, your options are more limited if it is a DC charter or public school. Additionally, notice requirements can sneak up on you if you do not immediately consult with a DC child injury lawyer.
Another important note is that when a child falls, it is often due to no fault of another party. To establish legal liability, there must be a breach of some duty owed by the defendant. If it is a daycare, we must prove it was negligent. However, the daycare will likely not be found negligent by a jury for letting your child play, and your child falls on their own.
For a burn injury to be worth pursuing, the burns must be significant enough to warrant medical treatment. Otherwise, it may not be worth your time to pursue a claim. If your child does suffer first-, second-, or third-degree burns, then our team of DC child injury lawyers will assist you in recovering the compensation your child deserves. There are countless ways in which a child can get burned. However, if the child burns himself through no fault of any other party, then the child likely does not have a case. Most frequently, we can prove liability for a burn injury to a child when there is a lack of reasonably sufficient supervision. Or, we may have a product liability case against a defective product. Of course, burns can also occur in car accidents, residential fires, or being allowed too close to a stove.
If your child is injured in a sports league, this can be a complex case to win because your child may have signed a waiver. Of course, a child cannot legally waive their rights to anything as a minor. But if you also signed as the parent or legal guardian, that waiver contract may be enforceable. But even then, your child may still have a case worth pursuing. Generally, the way to break a waiver contract is if there is the presence of gross negligence, recklessness, or intentional conduct. For example, if a coach intentionally or recklessly injures your child during practice, the waiver is not an issue. Contact a DC child injury lawyer to discuss your next steps for a sports-related injury.
Every case is different, with the liability falling on one, if not multiple parties. For example, say a child breaks a bone while playing a school-sponsored sport. While the parents waived their legal rights by allowing the child to participate in the sport and potentially face injuries, they can file claims if the coach knowingly allowed or encouraged dangerous play. The school could also face liability charges from the parents’ attorney if administrators knew of the coach’s conduct but did nothing about it.
While these and other intentional actions factor into child harm cases, just as many cases are negligence-based. For example, say a neighbor recently installed a pool but did not erect mandated fencing to avoid attractive nuisance issues. A child might see the pool and want to swim in it, unaware of the dangers involved due to their youth and inexperience. If the child drowned because the pool was not fenced in, the property owner becomes liable for attractive nuisance-related negligence and wrongful death.
Washington, D.C., uses contributory negligence to establish fault in personal injury cases. Comparative negligence rules allow plaintiffs to collect damages despite being somewhat at fault for their injuries; however, contributory negligence prevents damage collections even when plaintiffs are hardly to blame. Since children have developing brains and cannot entirely reason or think responsibly, A DC child injury lawyer could argue that contributory negligence does not apply. They are generally liable if the defendant owed the child duty of care and failed to provide it.
Compensation available for child injuries in DC can be broken down into three categories.
When we seek to settle your child’s case, we evaluate the past medical expenses to that point. However, we also consider any future medical expenses that you or your child may be responsible for that are causally related to the accident. This requires speculation to some degree, and a medical expert may need to testify if we go to trial. For example, if your child develops a chronic injury that will affect him for the rest of his life, we want to ensure that cost is factored into our case value evaluation.
Additionally, some children develop chronic migraines because of their accidents. While your health insurance will cover this expense, and you may only be left with the co-pay, once your health insurance learns there is a lawsuit or settlement, they expect to be paid out of the recovery. They do this by placing a lien on your case. This is something our DC child injury attorneys frequently handle. Thus, it is critical to factor any prescription costs into the value of your case.
Of course, many children do not work. If your child does work and has to miss time because of their injuries, we will fight to win them compensation for their time missed. In these instances, their treating physician must write into the medical record that they cannot work because of the accident. However, the most critical aspect of this element of compensation in a DC child injury case is the loss of future earning capacity. For example, if your child suffers a severe head injury that limits him cognitively, that child may not earn as much as he would have earned but for the injury.
Of course, it is impossible to know with certainty what the child would have earned but for the injury, but the legal system does have ways to calculate this amount. We then determine what the child will now earn with the head injury, and the child should be entitled to the difference between the two amounts.
Pain and suffering are evaluated based on how much pain a child experiences due to their injury multiplied by how long. If it is a chronic injury, the child will suffer the same amount for longer. It is important to note that pain and suffering damage is noneconomic. Medical expenses and lost wages are both economic damages and thus easier to calculate. While much of those damages require speculation for a child injury, it is still based on math. Meanwhile, a pain and suffering award depends more on what a jury thinks of the case, the child, and the many intangible factors that go into a legal case.
A DC study shows that 62% of DC child fatalities were due to liable parties. As a parent, protecting your child is everything. If your child was harmed for reasons beyond your control, make an appointment with our firm. Our DC child injury lawyers will take on your case and fight to win the damages your family deserves. Call Gelb & Gelb, P.C. today to discuss the case in detail.