Has your child suffered a serious injury due to another’s negligence and have questions about how to win your child injury claim? Call us now!
Choosing an Attorney
Choosing an attorney to represent a minor for injuries that they sustained in any type of environment in Orlando, Florida, is difficult. There’s a lot of attorneys that are around town, and a lot of them make a lot of different promises. It’s important that you are able to talk to your attorney and select the attorney that you actually want. Also, you need to understand who is going to handle your case.
Many times, when you meet with an attorney at their office, you don’t even get to meet with the attorney, you meet with a paralegal. Many times, the paralegal is the one that handles the case from inception all the way through resolution of the case. In those circumstances, the person is not going to make the same type of recovery that an actual licensed attorney that understands the intricacies of the law would be able to get for you. It’s important that you meet with your attorney and find out exactly who is going to be handling your case, particularly when it comes to your minor child because of the intricacies of having to deal with injuries for a minor child that’s suffered injuries.
The other thing is you want someone with experience that’s handled these types of cases before so they can be sure that you’re going to get the absolute best recovery for your child or children. There’s also a court component. Sometimes, depending on the value of the claim and how much is recovered, you may have to go to court to get approval to settle the minor settlement. You need someone that understands that as well and can explain all that to you, that can take that case from inception to completion.
For this or any other questions, feel free to give us a call.
Accepting a Settlement Offer
We’ve had clients do incredibly smart things. We had a client the other day who came in for a consultation because their child had been injured at daycare, and the insurance company came back and offered her a check to resolve the case immediately. She felt that was a little bit strange, came to us, and, sure enough, she was right. When insurance companies do that, they are trying to resolve the claim for the least amount of money possible. They recognize that they’re at fault or that they may have some exposure, and rather than waiting until your child is done with the treatment, waiting until we know exactly what your child’s injuries are, they want to close out the case.
When you do this, you’re shortchanging your child. Initially it’s because your child, usually at that stage, has not finished all their treatment, which means we don’t know what the damages or what the injuries actually are. If you accept an amount now, that amount may be completely inappropriate for the type of injuries that your child sustained. It’s very important that you consult with an attorney and that you allow the process to go forward, as tempting as it can be to take that offer. An attorney can evaluate the case appropriately and tell you based on these injuries, based on how long they’ve treated, based on what they have pending in the future, what they think the case is worth.
Sure enough, our client – we were already well above the initial offer that the insurance company made – was going to recover a lot more than if she would have just taken the insurance company’s initial offer. If you have any questions or an insurance company has made an offer to you, feel free to give us a call for a free consultation. We’d be happy to discuss the case with you, even if it’s just to tell you whether or not that offer is fair. It’s a completely free consultation, so feel free to give us a call.
Recoverable Damages
Many parents that have children that have sustained injuries in Orlando ask what damages are recoverable and what they can recover for. With children cases it’s a little bit different. There is no lost wage component to it, but there is a loss that could potentially be a loss of time in school. If the child has to be out of school for a specific period of time, it’s possible that that may retard their ability to graduate on time or their ability to continue their studies. That is something that can be compensable, as well as the medical expenses that they’ve sustained, the loss of enjoyment of their life, their loss of their enjoyment of their childhood activities that they may or may not be able to do. If the child was involved in sports and they can no longer do sports, that’s also part of the damages component that we can include.
Damages for children are a little bit different and they’re a little bit specialized, so it’s important that you talk to an attorney that’s experienced and understands everything that your child is entitled to recover as a result of an injury. For these questions or any other questions, feel free to give us a call for a free consultation.
Statute of Limitations
Many times, people are confused about the statute of limitations for accidents in Orlando, Florida, when it pertains to minors. That’s a complicated and difficult subject. It’s possible that the statute of limitations can go until four years after the child turns 18, but it depends. It’s a very fact-specific inquiry that has to be made as to if the parents did anything, if the child did anything. It’s a very complex inquiry that has to be made as to when the child can make a claim or how long after the injury the child can make a claim.
That is not really as important as making the claim quickly. The reason is, let’s say the child is six or seven, if you wait until the child is an adult, evidence is going to be lost, witnesses may no longer be here. The longer it takes, the more difficult it is to prove a case. It’s important that people act now and that they act quickly, and that you as a parent take ownership of your child’s injury and retain an attorney so the attorney can make the claim on your child’s behalf. It’s important that you act as quickly as possible and not rely on how long you have or wait until the child is an adult. If the child is 17, waiting until they’re an adult may be preferable, or 16, but for the most part the quicker you act, the better off the case will be.
For answers to these or any other type of questions, feel free to give us a call.
Has your child suffered a serious injury because of someone else’s negligence in Florida and have questions about how to win your child injury claim? Contact our experienced Orlando child injury lawyers today for a free consultation and case evaluation.
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