Monterey Child Injury Lawyers
When your child is injured in an accident, you may have many questions. How did this happen? Who is responsible? Who will pay for this tragedy?
During this difficult time, you need a skilled Monterey child injury lawyer who will advocate to protect your child’s rights and hold the parties responsible for their injuries accountable. You’re likely worried about medical bills, lost wages, and how to provide for your family while you’re trying to help your child heal from their injuries.
Our experienced and compassionate legal team can guide you through the legal process of filing a personal injury claim against those responsible for your child’s injuries. Call our personal injury law firm for a free consultation and timely advice.
Why Do I Need a Child Injury Lawyer?
If your child is injured due to someone else’s negligence, you could be facing a difficult road to recovery. Your child could suffer lifelong disabilities that negatively impact their quality of life and prevent them from working or enjoying normal activities in the same way that other children get to enjoy. By filing a child injury claim, you can seek compensation to help ease the burden of unexpected medical expenses, lost time from work, and other financial obligations.
Trying to navigate medical care for your child is often a massive undertaking. Insurance companies may try to take advantage of this vulnerable time by frustrating the process or causing unnecessary delays. They may deny your claim, hoping you will not fight back for what your family deserves.
Not hiring an experienced lawyer could result in missing critical deadlines, failing to consider the long-term costs of caring for your child, or accepting a settlement that does not fairly compensate for the difficult journey ahead. You could miss out on the funds that could help your family cover additional medical costs, therapies, and long-term care.
How Can a Child Injury Lawyer Help Me?
When you hire our Monterey child injury lawyers for help with your case, we handle the legal process so you can focus on your family. You can trust us to:
- Explain your legal rights and options to you
- Investigate the accident and identify all parties at fault for your child’s injuries
- Gather evidence to prove liability
- Compile information about the short- and long-term effects the injuries have on your child and family
- Guide you with compassion through the legal process
- Handle communications with insurance companies and protect you from deceptive insurance practices
- Monitor case deadlines and take timely legal action
- Negotiate for maximum compensation
Our personal injury attorneys can protect your rights every step of the way. We can fight for the accountability and justice your family deserves. This allows you to focus on your child without worrying about the legal complexities involved in the case. We can discuss more about how we can help when you call for a free case review.
What Are the Common Causes of Child Injuries?
Child injuries can occur in various situations. While it’s normal for children to get a few scrapes and bruises as they grow, various state and federal laws are in place to prevent children from suffering serious injuries.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
- Approximately 12,000 children aged 0-19 die every year in the United States due to unintentional injuries.
- Another 9,000,000 children are treated each year for nonfatal injuries in U.S. emergency departments.
- For every child who dies, there are 25 who are hospitalized, 925 who are treated in emergency rooms, and many more who are treated in doctor’s offices.
- Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of accidental death for children.
- Falls are the most common reason for nonfatal injuries sustained by children.
In one recent year, the most common causes of child injury deaths were:
- Car accidents – 4,564
- Suffocation – 1,160
- Drowning – 983
- Poisoning – 824
- Fires or burns – 391
- Falls – 151
Pedestrian accidents and bicycle accidents can also injure children. Children can also suffer injuries through dog bites, sports injuries, playground injuries, and various other causes.
Who Is Responsible for My Child’s Injuries?
If your child was injured, one of the most important questions a personal injury attorney can help answer is who is responsible for that injury. Any entity that knowingly accepts responsibility for your child has a duty of care over them to ensure their safety while in their care. Additionally, all people are expected to exercise reasonable care to avoid harming others.
As such, various parties could be responsible for child injuries, including the following:
- Other parents
- Schools
- Hospitals
- Doctor’s offices
- Daycares
- Babysitters
- Motorists
- Bus drivers
- Coaches
- Camp counselors
- Afterschool programs
- Business owners
What Do I Have to Prove in a Child Injury Claim?
To establish your right to compensation following your child’s injury, you will need to prove the defendant was negligent. This requires showing the following elements:
- Duty of care – You must show the defendant had a duty of care to ensure your child’s safety.
- Breach of duty – You must show the defendant breached their duty of care.
- Causation – You must show that the defendant’s breach directly caused your child’s injury.
- Damages – You must show that you or your child suffered damages as a result of the defendant’s negligence.
Pursuing Legal Claims Against Various Parties
Because child injury cases can take many forms, it’s important to understand how different types of personal injury lawsuits might play out. Here are a few examples of common personal injury claims involving child injuries:
Car Accidents
Car accidents are a leading cause of personal injury. Children’s bodies are still developing, so they are more vulnerable to suffering a serious injury in a car crash.
To prove a personal injury claim based on injuries sustained in a car accident, you would need to prove that the other driver negligently operated their vehicle. For example, this could be by:
- Texting while driving
- Speeding
- Failing to yield the right-of-way
- Driving while fatigued or impaired
- Not obeying traffic laws
You would have to prove this negligent operation caused the crash and for your child to be injured. Evidence that may help establish your legal claims might include:
- Accident reports
- Witness statements
- Photos of the accident scene
- Videos from surveillance cameras, dash cams, or traffic cameras
- Information from event data recorders in the vehicles
You would also need to present evidence that you suffered damages as a result of the accident, such as car repair bills, medical bills, or employment records showing time off work.
Defective Products
Product designers, manufacturers, and retailers are responsible for ensuring that products they design, manufacture, and sell are safe to use as intended. If a defect occurred in the design or manufacturing process or warning labels were not sufficient, you might have grounds if a toy, clothing, or other child product injured your child.
Slips and Falls
Children can slip and fall while at school, doctor’s offices, stores, or other locations. Often, these accidents are preventable when property owners and those in control of the premises maintain them. If a dangerous condition is on the property, the property owner knew or should have known about it but failed to correct it, and your child was injured as a result, you may be able to recover damages for your child’s injuries through a premises liability claim.
Dog Bites
California has a strict liability law for dog bite injury victims. Under this law, a dog owner or handler is responsible when their dog bites someone who is lawfully on the property. You don’t have to show the dog owner knew of their dog’s viciousness to be awarded damages.
Playground Injuries
Some child injuries involve accidents on playgrounds, public parks, and other outdoor locations. The standard of care will depend on the type of place where the playground injury occurred and the relationship between your child and the defendant. For example, schools are required to properly supervise children on their campuses, so they can be held liable in situations including cases involving child-on-child injuries if they fail to uphold their responsibility.
What Financial Compensation Can I Recover in a Child Injury Lawsuit?
Childhood injuries can sometimes lead to long-lasting or even lifelong consequences. A Monterey personal injury lawyer can review your case to determine the damages you may be able to recover for your child’s injury claim, such as:
- Medical expenses – Your child may have significant medical expenses for emergency medical treatment, ambulance rides, hospital stays, surgeries, specialist visits, medicine, and doctor appointments. You may also need to consider your child’s future medical expenses.
- Lost wages – You can seek compensation for the wages you lost while caring for your child.
- Reduced earning capacity – Some child injuries can impair your child and may prevent them from earning a living. You can seek compensation for your child’s reduced or lost earning capacity.
- Pain and suffering – Personal injuries can cause significant physical pain and suffering. You can potentially recover compensation to consider these losses.
- Emotional distress – Childhood injuries can lead to psychological trauma, mental anguish, and emotional distress.
- Disfigurement and scarring – Some injuries may cause deformities or permanent scarring that may negatively impact your child’s self-esteem.
Can We Still Recover Compensation If Our Child Is Being Blamed for the Accident?
Generally, when a personal injury victim contributes to an accident, courts and insurance companies can apportion fault to the victim and reduce their compensation proportionately. However, in cases involving child injury victims, the child’s age, maturity, and intelligence may be considered. The question becomes whether another child with similar characteristics would have acted similarly under the circumstances.
Even if your child is partially blamed for the accident, California’s pure comparative negligence rule allows you to seek compensation on their behalf as long as anyone else bore some of the responsibility for the accident. However, the damages you are awarded are reduced by your child’s degree of fault. To learn more about how this issue might impact your accident claim, contact an experienced personal injury attorney.
Contact Allen Law Firm for Immediate Legal Assistance
Your family should not have to suffer because of someone else’s mistake. If your child was injured by someone else’s negligence, the Monterey child injury lawyers at Allen Law Firm want to help hold the negligent party or parties responsible. We can evaluate your claim, discuss your legal options, and answer any questions you have during a free case review. Contact us today to get started.
