Children don’t always understand the severity of their own injuries. While you comfort your child after an accident, though, you can start to think about how fault plays into the incident. If another party bore responsibility for your child’s accident, you can pursue compensation.
Our child injury lawyers in Yonkers at Morelli Law Firm make it easier for parents and children alike to undergo personal injury cases. When you bring a child injury case to our team, we’ll do everything in our power to support you through your losses.
Discussing a Personal Injury Case With Your Child
Helping your child recover from an injury can be trying. While your child’s injuries may be minor, their memories of the experience may leave them frightened or wary. What’s more, some parents worry that by placing continued attention on the accident, a child may suffer additional pain.
Fortunately, this doesn’t have to be the case. When you approach a child injury case, you can do so with a legal team that’s sensitive to your child’s needs. While we work with your family, we’ll strive to protect your child from further harm. This way, you can fight for the compensation your child needs without adding stress to their lives.
Child Injury Cases in Yonkers, New York
From a legal perspective, the child injury cases mirror adult personal injury cases. If you believe that negligence contributed to the losses your child endured, then you can work with a child injury attorney in Yonkers to draft a complaint.
More specifically, it’s a parent’s responsibility to elaborate on the duty of care that they believe another party owed their child. No matter what kind of case you’re contending with – personal injury, premises liability, or product liability – establishing duty of care can help you later build up a case for liability.
What is a duty of care in a child’s personal injury case, though? This term describes the responsibility owed to your child by business owners, pedestrians, drivers, and other parties. Parties that violate their duty of care can do so through negligence or deliberate recklessness.
Yonkers Child Injury Lawyer Near Me 877-751-9800
Understanding Liability in a Child Injury Case
To fight for compensation on your child’s behalf, you need to identify a liable party. Duty of care plays a role in this identification, but so too does evidence gathered at the scene of an accident.
Both individuals and institutions can be held liable for a child’s losses. Individuals, like independent motorists, may violate roadway laws and compromise your child’s safety. Alternatively, institutions, including museums, malls, and the teams behind public transportation services may injure your child through negligence.
If you’re not sure who to hold liable for your child’s losses, turn to a child injury lawyer in Yonkers. We’ll assess the nature of other parties involved in your accident and determine both their affiliations and the nature of their involvement. Whether you need to take an institution or individual before a county clerk, we’ll be there every step of the way.
Challenging Liability Claims
If you allow your child to go on a field trip through their school, the school itself may take steps to limit its liability in case of an accident. Many field trips require students to submit health and safety forms. If you don’t read these forms carefully, you may find that a school has exempted itself from responsibility when it comes to the safety of your child.
You don’t have to resign yourself to medical expenses and trauma if you’re stonewalled by a school, though. Let our team assess the paperwork at hand alongside your child’s losses. When we work together, we can find alternative paths towards the compensation both you and your child need to recover.
Children, Aging, and New York’s Statute of Limitations
For adults, personal injury claims come along with a set statute of limitations. New York Civil Practice Law & Rules §214 gives adults three years to fight for post-accident compensation. That said, this statute does not apply to any parties seeking recompense who are under the age of twenty-one.
Your child has until their 21st birthday to file a personal injury claim. It does not matter at what age the injury in question occurred. New York affords its children the right to pursue compensation until the state views them as legal adults. That said, families and their children are still expected to file a Notice of Claim under Public Authorities Law §3567.
The statute of limitations does grow more complicated in cases involving medical malpractice. Childrens’ medical malpractice cases must be submitted within ten years of the injury’s discovery. Alternatively, the deadline for a complaint expires within two and a half years of the child’s 18th birthday.
The Compensation You’re Fighting For
When you fight for compensation on your child’s behalf, you need to know what kind of recompense you’re asking for. For example, your child’s post-accident losses can be both economic and non-economic. Some of the most common avenues for compensation included in these personal injury cases include:
- The cost of medical bills
- The cost of essential surgeries
- The cost of mobility aids, medication, physical therapy, and recovery
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Pain and suffering
If the accident in question was particularly egregious, a judge may also choose to apply punitive charges to a child’s case. You can work with our child injury lawyers in Yonkers to learn more about these charges and the other forms of compensation for which a child might apply.
Discuss the Benefits of a Child Injury Suit With Us
Your child deserves all the protection you can give them. In the days following an accident, don’t think that you have to provide those protections alone. When bills mount and your child needs additional care, you can call our team of child injury lawyers in Yonkers.
Morelli Law Firm knows how to tackle the complexities of today’s child injury cases. When you work with us, you can count on our team to fight for the compensation you and your child need. Request a case evaluation today by calling our office or filling out our online claim form.