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Child Injury Lawyer in Queens, NY

Child Injury Lawyer

Childhood accidents happen, and children can be seriously injured while on their own or while under other adults’ supervision. While some childhood accidents are unavoidable, others are preventable. When a child has been injured because of an adult’s negligence or disregard for safety, the child’s parents may seek compensation for the child’s medical bills and other expenses, including for long-term care needs in cases of debilitating injury.

Let an experienced personal injury lawyer with The Tadchiev Law Firm, P.C. help you if your child has been injured in an accident that could have been prevented. Our Queens child injury lawyers know how to stand up to school districts, daycare centers, youth sports leagues, clubs, and other organizations that assume supervisory responsibility for children. We will advocate for your child’s rights and seek full compensation for your family’s losses.

We offer a free case review, and you pay no fees unless we win compensation for you. For a case review, contact us today.

What to Do When a Child is Injured at a School

When a child is injured at school, even if the school or a school employee didn’t directly cause the accident, the school district might be held legally responsible. In other cases, there may be negligence on the part of a faculty or staff member, which makes them and their employer – the school – legally responsible.

Bringing a claim against a government agency, such as a school district, requires giving notice. To hold a New York public school district liable for a student’s injury, you must file a Notice of Claim within 90 days of the incident. That allows the school district or other entity an opportunity to consider and resolve a claim or deny its validity. After 30 days, if the school district denies the claim or takes no action, you can proceed with a lawsuit against the school district filed in the New York Supreme Court.

If your child is enrolled in a private school, the rules are different because private schools are not shielded by sovereign immunity. A personal injury claim may move forward without filing a formal notice of claim.

In most cases, public school teachers, coaches, principals, and other administrators cannot be held individually liable for a child’s injury in a routine accident at school. They might be individually sued for a particularly wanton, heinous, or malicious act, such as assault or sexual misconduct committed against a student, purposeful neglect of assigned duties that led to an injury, or failing their mandated duty to report suspected abuse or maltreatment of a child.

Damages Available for Child Injuries

A minor-age child’s custodial parents or guardian would file a claim against the party responsible for the child’s injury on the child’s behalf. The compensation sought in a personal injury claim may include the following:

  • Medical bills and expenses
  • Pain and suffering
  • Emotional distress (anxiety, depression, PTSD)
  • Disability
  • Reduced earning capacity
  • Loss of enjoyment of life

In cases of disabling or disfiguring injuries, a claim would include projections for future costs of ongoing medical needs, adaptive equipment, rehabilitation, and special education requirements. A permanently disabled child will miss out on opportunities to participate in many childhood activities, such as organized sports, and may face limited opportunities for education, employment, dating, and marriage. These are all potentially compensable losses.

In a separate claim, the parents of a disabled child might seek compensation for lost income and costs associated with the additional time they must dedicate to caring for their child and advocating for the services their child needs.

If your child has been significantly injured while under another adult’s supervision, a child injury lawyer with The Tadchiev Law Firm can investigate to determine what happened to your child and why. In the case of adult negligence, we can pursue one or more claims on behalf of you and your child.

Adults May Have Legal Liability for Children’s Injuries

Adults have a legal as well as moral obligation to step in and protect children from harming themselves or being harmed by others if they can. People and institutions that formally act in the place of a parent, such as teachers and schools, counselors, camps, coaches, and sports leagues, have a greater duty to safeguard children under their supervision.

Many state laws in New York were specifically written with children’s safety in mind. The law also treats children differently when it considers whether they are responsible for their own actions, including those that may have led to an accident and injuries.

For example, if an adult is injured while trespassing, they typically cannot hold the property owner liable, regardless of the dangerous state of the owner’s premises. But a child who is trespassing may be excused from trespassing due to their young age and lack of developed judgment to recognize dangerous situations. A property owner may be held legally liable for not properly securing a swimming pool if a trespassing child was injured after gaining access to a swimming pool that was not properly secured.

Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse or Maltreatment in New York

Under New York law, individuals employed in certain professions are required to report any reasonable cause to suspect child abuse or maltreatment if they encounter it while acting in their official or professional capacity.

Mandated reporters include all types of medical care providers, law enforcement personnel, school officials, social workers, daycare workers, camp directors and counselors, residential care facility employees, and many others.

Reports are to be made to the New York Statewide Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment (SCR). Mandated reporters are not required to notify parents or others legally responsible for the child. In fact, they are advised that, in some cases, alerting the parent may hinder the local Child Protective Services investigation and adversely affect its ability to assess children’s safety.

It is a Class A misdemeanor for a mandated reporter to fail to report suspected child abuse or maltreatment.

Further, the parents of a child may sue a mandated reporter for monetary damages if the mandated reporter’s failure to make a report to the SCR led to their child being or continuing to be harmed.

Common Causes of Children’s Injuries

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says accidental injuries are the No. 1 cause of death among children.

At The Tadchiev Law Firm, we can help you with a legal response to childhood injuries caused by preventable accidents, including:

Common Types of Childhood Injuries

An adult’s negligent supervision of a child can lead to accidents that cause a wide range of injuries. If your child has suffered any of the following injuries while in someone else’s care, an attorney with The Tadchiev Law Firm would like to meet with you to discuss how we may help:

  • Traumatic Brain Injury
  • Broken Bones/Fractures
  • Soft Tissue Damage
  • Spinal Cord Injuries, Paralysis
  • Facial Scarring / Disfigurement
  • Neck Injuries
  • Internal Organ Injury
  • Crush Injury
  • Burns
  • Loss of Limb
  • Loss of Eye

New York Statute of Limitations for Child Injuries

In most cases, New York law requires a personal injury lawsuit to be filed within three years of the date of injury. A wrongful death claim must be filed within two years after the victim’s death.

However, for an underage child, the allowed filing period may be delayed until the child has reached 18 years of age. Under some circumstances, a claimant would have up to 10 years after the incident occurred or the child reached the legal age to file a lawsuit.

It is always better to begin work on a claim as soon as possible when witnesses’ memories are fresh and before physical evidence is lost or has deteriorated. The filing of a lawsuit comes after thoroughly investigating the accident and negotiating with the insurance company to attempt to reach an appropriate settlement.

If you miss the statutory deadline for filing a lawsuit, you may be barred from pursuing compensation. We urge you to contact The Tadchiev Law Firm about a child’s preventable injury as soon as you can.

Talk to a Queens Child Injury Attorney Today

If your child has been injured in an accident in Queens, contact the personal injury lawyers at The Tadchiev Law Firm, P.C., today. Our experienced child injury lawyers offer personalized and professional legal service When you work with us after an accident, you can rest assured we will stand up for you and your child and demand the compensation available by law. For your free case review, contact us today by phone or online.