If your child has been hurt due to another’s negligence, read this article to learn about life after your child is injured. Give us a call.
Statute of Limitations
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.
Insurance Investigation
Typically, you’re going to want to report the injury to the place where the injury happened. If you’re at a store, you want to tell the store that your child sustained a fall. If your child is injured in school, you’re going to want to tell the school, “Hey, my child sustained an injury,” so that that can be documented, because they’re going to want to write a report and let the insurance company know.
Besides that, it’s always best to talk to an attorney. If you haven’t reported it when it happened at the scene and they don’t know about it, you’re better off just talking to an attorney. Have the attorney contact either the location or the insurance company first. However, if you’re there and the incident happened, it’s important to let them know that it happened so that they have it documented.
As for the insurance company, at some point they’re going to call you wanting to know what happened. We always recommend that our clients discuss the case with the attorney first, let the attorney contact the insurance company. The reason is that there’s many questions that they ask that really aren’t going to benefit your child’s case. There are many things they’re going to want to know that aren’t going to benefit your child’s case. Particularly for slip and falls and accidents at school in Orlando, it’s very important that you have an attorney that can actually assist you when you give a statement to an insurance company so they don’t ask you things or frame questions in a way that is going to be detrimental to your child’s case.
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.
Has your child suffered a serious injury because of someone else’s negligence in Florida and you have questions about life after your child is injured? Contact our experienced Orlando child injury lawyers today for a free consultation and case evaluation.
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