West Lake Hills Child Injury Lawyer
When your child gets injured, it can feel like the world stops. In many ways, it does—your whole family’s focus shifts to that child’s care and recovery. However, it is vital to remember that the world has not stopped. You still need to pay bills, care for your other children, and plan for that child’s future. Perhaps most importantly, you must know the statute of limitations and any filing deadlines for insurance claims.
Few kids make it through childhood without any injuries. Bumps, bruises, cuts, sprains, and strains are part of a normal, healthy, active childhood. However, some injuries are much more dramatic. They can result in severe injuries, trauma, lifelong difficulties, and even death. If your child has experienced a severe injury, contact a West Lake Hills child injury lawyer. Our personal injury attorneys can help you seek compensation through a claim.
Negligence and Child Injuries
Many children’s injuries are accidents. While people use the word accident to describe any unintentional, unfortunate event, that usage is overbroad. When something is truly an accident, it can be challenging to identify the cause. Many things that people consider accidents are negligence instead. They may have been unintentional, but someone’s behavior is responsible for the injury. To establish negligence for a child injury, a person and their West Lake Hills attorney have to prove four things:
- Duty to the injured child
- Breach of that duty
- The breach caused the injury
- The child suffered harm
Generally, people have the duty to behave reasonably towards one another. Even if there is no special relationship between people, one still expects reasonable behavior. Furthermore, people can have particular duties to others based on their relationship. Caregivers, teachers, Scout leaders, coaches, parents, doctors, counselors, and clergy may have a special obligation to children.
In addition, strangers can have a special duty to children. Children are not old enough to understand the consequences of their behavior, and adults may need to take precautions around things that could tempt children. For example, anyone with a pool deeper than two feet must have a fence at least four feet tall surrounding that pool. That is because pools are attractive nuisances, enticing small children.
Common Childhood Injuries
Children are significantly injury-prone. Injury is the leading cause of death among children. Children are often uncoordinated, fail to understand dangers related to specific behaviors, and live in an adult-sized world.
Falls, bicycle accidents, car accidents, drowning, accidental suffocation, fires, firearms, ingesting toxins, poisoning, choking, and deaths from dangerous toys or products are the leading causes of child death or serious injury.
Not every injury will have a wrongdoer to blame. Sometimes, the injury is a pure accident. In other circumstances, the custodial parent may be responsible for the injury, which often forecloses the potential for financial recovery from insurers or through a lawsuit.
After an injury to a child, a parent should consult a West Lake Hills lawyer. They can explore potential recovery venues and examine the whole scenario to determine if someone was negligent. For example, a bike accident may seem like no one is to blame. However, if a poorly maintained sidewalk contributed to the accident, someone may be responsible for failing to maintain it.
Meet With a West Lake Hills Child Injury Attorney
Children cannot file insurance claims or sue on their behalf. They must rely on their parents or guardians to protect their interests. That is why you need to schedule a consultation with a West Lake Hills child injury lawyer. We can help you understand the potential lifelong consequences of a childhood injury, ensuring you get an adequate settlement to take care of all of those needs.
Some of the damages that may be available include medical bills, ongoing care, and the economic impact on the family. When a victim is an adult, they can recover lost wages. While a child may not have lost wages, the caregivers may need to miss work to help with recovery. Furthermore, you may be entitled to recoveries for pain and suffering, emotional pain, and trauma. Contact our team to learn more about filing a claim for compensation.
