Columbia Child Injury Lawyer
Finding out your child was hurt in a serious accident is a horrible experience, especially if that accident will continue to have physical, emotional, or cognitive consequences for years to come. While civil litigation cannot erase the damage done to your child and to your family as a whole, it could be key to mitigating the financial harm caused by another person’s reckless behavior.
A compassionate Columbia child injury lawyer could offer valuable advice and legal support throughout your case, whether you want to pursue a settlement or progress a lawsuit all the way to civil court. With help from your dedicated personal injury attorney, you may be able to recover the maximum amount of damages your child is due.
Time Limits for Child Injury Litigation
Because minors cannot legally represent themselves in court, parents and guardians of children hurt in severe accidents have the right to file suit for damages on their child’s behalf. Additionally, because the impact that an injury has on a child’s development may not become clear until several years after the incident, the statutory filing deadlines for child injury cases are a bit more lenient than those applicable to cases with adult plaintiffs.
In most cases, the parent or guardian of a child hurt by someone else’s negligence has until that child turns 21 to pursue civil litigation. However, the deadline is slightly shorter for child injury cases stemming from medical negligence, in which a plaintiff must pursue litigation before the injured child turns 20. Assistance from a Columbia child injury attorney is often crucial to building a comprehensive and effective case while still complying with statutory filing periods.
Proving Negligence and Recovering Compensation
Just like cases involving adult plaintiffs, most child injury claims revolve around the negligence of another adult. In practice, this means that successful recovery generally depends on a plaintiff proving that the defendant violated a duty of care by doing something careless or reckless, and that this irresponsible behavior was the direct cause of the accident that caused their child’s compensable losses.
Because minor children are not always able to determine what conditions may put them at risk of harm, adults often owe greater duties of care to children than they do for other adults. For example, property owners do not have to protect adult trespassers from known hazards, but they may be liable if a trespassing child gets hurt by an “attractive nuisance” on their land that they did not properly secure.
Regardless of the specific circumstances that led to a child getting hurt, a successful case against a negligent defendant may allow recovery for every form of harm that child has sustained. A child injury lawyer in Columbia could help a family seek restitution for medical expenses, future loss of earning capacity, physical and emotional pain, and more.
Talk to a Columbia Child Injury Attorney About Your Legal Options
There are few situations more heartbreaking than accidents that result in a child suffering a severe injury, and those situations can be even more tragic when they stem from someone else’s negligent actions or failure to act. If your child experienced preventable harm due to the reckless or careless behavior of another adult, you should strongly consider consulting an attorney about your legal options.
A dedicated Columbia child injury lawyer at Mutrux Firm Injury Lawyers could help you effectively demand the money damages that your child deserves. Call today to schedule a consultation and learn more.