Tucson Child
Injury Lawyers

Parents’ greatest nightmare is that something could happen that injures their child. It is hard enough to be a parent of any child, let alone having to deal with injuries to your loved ones. It is even more difficult knowing that your child suffered harm due to something that someone else did wrong. Your child and your family are left to bear the consequences of another person’s failures.

While you must bear the physical costs, you do not have to bear the financial costs when someone else caused the injury. You should discuss your child’s legal rights with a Tucson child injury lawyer as soon as possible. At Zanes Law Injury Lawyers, we handle these types of cases, and we can assess your legal options for free.

Ways That Children Could Suffer Injuries in an Accident

Children can sustain injuries in many ways. You have undoubtedly seen the horror stories on the news detailing gruesome and catastrophic injuries to children. They may be the first ones to suffer harm in an accident. Even less severe injuries can still leave an impact on a growing body.

Here are some common ways that children can suffer personal injuries that could be the subject of a lawsuit:

• School bus injuries – The school district or another driver may be legally responsible when the child suffers injuries in a school bus accident. Bus drivers make errors, and many school districts have old buses on the road or fail to perform proper maintenance.
• Pedestrian accidents – While children may be harder for drivers to see, drivers do not have any additional leeway when they strike children just because children are smaller.
• Swimming pool accidents – Children may drown due to lack of supervision or may suffer injuries due to faulty swimming pool equipment or improper maintenance.
• Defective toys – The products that children enjoy every single day could be defective, and the manufacturer should have to pay for a design or manufacturing defect.
• Car accidents – Children may sustain injuries in the backseat of a vehicle involved in any collision.
• Park injuries – Amusement parks or other children’s entertainment centers could face premises liability actions when children suffer injuries on a ride or in a play area. The ride manufacturer could also be liable.
• Dog bites – This is one of the most common injuries to children, as dogs attack and injure kids between the ages of five and nine most often.

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Children Often Have Little to No Control Over What Happens to Them

Life can be dangerous for children. They often do not have the maturity to handle themselves in challenging or unexpected situations. Beyond that, they have little to no control over the harm that can befall them when people far bigger could pose a threat to their safety. They have no say over what other drivers do on the road when they are passengers in a car. They have no control over the shape of the playground equipment that they use or the pool in which they swim. Yet, their smaller bodies pay the price when someone else is negligent. Given the size of their bodies, this could have severe short-term impacts on their life.

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The Grim Statistics of Child Injuries

Millions of children suffer injuries in accidents each year. In a recent year, over 121,000 children under the age of 12 suffered injuries in car accidents alone. Thousands more sustain harm just in the normal activities of their daily lives.

Some injuries can be severe – in fact, unintentional injuries are the leading cause of child death in this country. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 12,000 children die each year in unintentional accidents. Over nine million receive treatment in the emergency room annually after they suffer varying degrees of injury.

The current leading causes of child death in the United States are:

• Suffocation for children under the age of one
• Drowning for children between one and four years old
• Car accidents for children aged five and up

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Damages in Tucson Child Injury Cases

When children suffer injuries due to another person’s negligence, they could be entitled to monetary damages. Damages in a child injury case could include:

• Past and future medical expenses
• Mental health counseling to deal with the trauma of the accident
• Lost income, if a parent or guardian had to miss work or leave their job to care for their child
• A child’s lost earning opportunities if the injuries will impair their ability to be self-supporting
• Costs of ongoing care if the child’s injuries will render them unable to live independently in the future

A parent or guardian could also seek compensation for the child’s physical pain and emotional suffering. If the injury left the child disfigured or limited their ability to participate in certain activities, damages could include payments to acknowledge these losses. A parent might also receive damages for the mental anguish of witnessing the accident that injured their child, and for loss of the child’s companionship.

In rare cases, punitive damages could be available. No matter how serious an injury, negligence is not enough to merit punitive damages. Instead, a plaintiff must show that a defendant acted with the intention of causing harm or consciously acted without regard to the likely harm their behavior might cause. Punitive damages are sometimes awarded against drunk drivers and others who engage in outrageously unsafe conduct. A skilled Tucson lawyer could determine if there is enough evidence to support seeking punitive damages in a particular case.

Filing a Claim for Injury to a Minor Child in Tucson

A “minor child,” as defined under the Arizona Revised Statutes § 1-215(22), is any person under 18 years of age. Because minors lack the legal capacity to file a claim on their own, an injured person may have an eligible party bring a cause of action on their behalf. According to A.R.S. § 12-641, a child injury claim may be brought by either of the minor’s parents or legal guardians.

Pursuing a Child Injury Case as an Adult

Minors who wish to file a claim on their own may wait until they are 18 years of age. In Arizona, the statute of limitations for a party to file a personal injury claim is typically two years from the date of injury. Although, if the injured party is a minor, the statute of limitations does not begin to run until the minor reaches legal age. A person injured in a childhood accident has two years from the date of their 18th birthday to file a claim, as specified under A.R.S. § 12-502.

If a minor sustains an injury at a very young age, waiting to file a lawsuit could be detrimental to the case. As time goes on, evidence might get lost, and witnesses may be difficult to track down. An attorney familiar with cases involving minors could provide more information about the advantages and disadvantages of waiting to file a claim.

Courts Must Approve Most Settlements

A judge must approve any settlement on behalf of a child with a value exceeding $10,000. Typically, the paying party petitions a court to approve a settlement and the court then schedules a hearing.

At the hearing, the judge will seek information about the cause of the child’s injury, the prognosis, and the care the child required and could require in the future. The parent or guardian who desires to enter into the settlement must attend this hearing. An experienced child injury attorney in Tucson could help a parent or guardian prepare for their presentation to the judge.

There are several ways to handle a large settlement entered on behalf of a child, and the best methods will vary depending on the circumstances. If the child requires expensive ongoing care, a structured settlement overseen by a guardian ad litem might be the most effective way to ensure that the parents receive the funds they need to give their child proper care. In most cases, a child gains control over these funds when they reach age 18.

The Statute of Limitations in a Tucson Child Injury Lawsuit

There are other special rules for lawsuits involving injured children in Arizona. The statute of limitations is different for these lawsuits. Usually, injured plaintiffs have two years from the date of the injury to file a lawsuit. For injured children, the statute of limitations does not begin to run until the child turns 18. They have two years from that time to file a lawsuit.

This does not mean that parents cannot file a lawsuit before then. Most parents will file a claim when the child is young. After all, they need money for the child’s care now, and they have every legal right as the parent to file a lawsuit on behalf of the child.

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