What can a Child Obtain in a Personal Injury Case?

Children, parents of children, or guardians of children can sue to receive compensation for the injuries that the minors sustained. Generally, the parents or guardians sue on behalf of the children that were harmed.

If a child is wrongfully injured by someone (like a truck driver, doctor, or another’s dog for example), then you may be surprised to learn who can sue for the damages that result (and remember it only has to be one act, not a pattern of conduct in order to give rise to liability).

In medical malpractice cases, cases for personal injuries, cases for products liability, and in other legal contexts, the kid’s parents as well as caretakers can sue for compensation in a court of law for his or her injuries. The child will usually seek to recover for the actual physical, mental, and other harms created by the negligent act. For instance, these particular kinds of child injury cases can exhibit bruises, brain damage, disfigurement, disability, and other injuries. In the suits that follow, the child will usually be represented by a parent or caretaker and that representative might even include damages that they incurred because of the incident.

You can sue for all of the ways in which the injury negatively impacted your life including bodily pain, loss of self-esteem, increased costs, and long-term suffering. Although, there is a difference why you might want to sue someone and what you might ask from a jury in such a case.

The array of things that you can ask a jury for is extensive especially in medical malpractice and personal injury cases. Yet, they must actually be tied to injuries, whether tangible or intangible in nature. For example, if a child suffers injuries while birth that lead to brain damage, then he or she can sue for that pain.

Alternatively, if a truck driver ran into a kid on a bike and he or she broke a bone, then the child can sue for the medical bills that follow. Also, a lot of these accidents impose significant mental wounds such as pain and suffering, loss in normal life, and other kinds of grieving that are completely acceptable forms of compensation in these brands of lawsuits. This is just a brief sampling of damages that might be available to you through a lawsuit. It is important to speak with a qualified attorney to gain a better grasp of what would be possible if you brought a suit.

Generally, you have to prove that someone acted wrongfully and that that conduct caused you injuries that the law recognizes in order to win a child injury case. However, the bar you have to clear and specific points you have to make depends on whether you are in a courtroom or settlement room.

What you need to show in court is determined by the type of case that you bring. Here are some of the most common kinds of claims in child injury litigation.

• Assault: This occurs when someone intends to create a reasonable fear of imminent harmful or offensive contact.
• Battery: This is intentional conduct that creates harmful or damaging contact.
• Negligent/intentional infliction of emotional distress: This is negligent or intentional conduct that is considered extreme or outrageous and causes severe emotional distress.
• Negligence: This is when someone breaches a duty to another and that breach causes injury and damage to that same person.
• Medical Malpractice: This is when a healthcare provider fails to provide reasonable care to a patient and the patient is harmed as a result of that failure. Example: injury at birth.

A lawyer can help you with your child’s case by bringing experience and passion to craft and execute an effective case plan. While you can do many of these things yourself, you will be immeasurably helped by adding skill and care.

So you’ve reviewed who can recover and what they can recover for in a child injury case. Now, it is helpful to review how a lawyer can help you win your lawsuit. Obviously, the foregoing section outlined how each claim has separate elements to allege and show. However, they all require similar work. For instance, as your suit kicks off, you’ll enter what is known as discovery. This will involve formal back and forth between you and the other party. If you are not careful, you can give away critical information; on the other hand, if you are not keen, you will not extract what you need to to prevail. Also, each trial demands great presentation. Through opening and closing argument, you must convincingly explain to the jury what happened and have them buy into it. Additionally, through examination, you need to display the defendant’s wrongful conduct and that can seem like pulling teeth. We have done this before and can guide you through the legal process. We know that child injuries create terribly painful situations and can work with you so that the suit is as painless as possible.