Bakersfield Child
Injury Lawyer

Yes, filing a personal injury claim on your child’s behalf within the two-year statute of limitations for personal injury claims is one of the ways of addressing compensation for child injuries in California. However, you should be aware that to obtain an out-of-court settlement for your child’s claim, the court must approve the settlement and appoint a guardian ad litem to ensure that the settlement is in the child’s best interests.

Compensation for a child’s injury usually comes in two parts:

• The court awards the first part of the compensation to the child’s parents or legal guardians as payment for medical expenses incurred for treating the injury or related complications.
• The court awards the second part of the compensation to the child for pain and suffering and other quality-of-life impacts they incurred from the injury. This portion of the settlement or award generally goes in a protected account or trust for when the child reaches the age of majority.

For your child to file a personal injury claim, they must wait until they reach the age of majority, which is 18. At that time, they will usually have two years to file their claim. In other words, if your child wishes to file a personal injury claim, they must do so by their 20th birthday as the two-year statute of limitations is tolled until the child is legally of age to file the claim.

Entering into a settlement agreement on behalf of your child is called the compromise of a minor’s claim. Those who may participate in this process on behalf of the child include both parents if they each reside with the child; the child’s custodial parent or legal guardian; or a guardian ad litem whom the court appointed to determine the best interests of the child.

This process involves submitting a petition to the court for approval of the settlement.

The petition must include the following information:

• The child’s personal information, including name, date of birth, and gender.
• Relationship of the petitioner to the child.
• Description of the claim.
• Description of the incident that resulted in the child becoming injured.
• A detailed description of the injuries the child sustained, including copies of medical reports and other documents used to prove the claim.
• Acknowledgment by the petitioner that the settlement is final and binding, meaning that you will not go back to the at-fault party’s insurance carrier at a later time to seek additional compensation for the same injuries.
• A description of the settlement amount and all terms of the settlement.
• Disclosure of medical expenses that will be paid through the compensation.
• Disclosure of attorney’s costs that will be paid through the settlement.
• Disclosure of how the proceeds will be handled. Generally, proceeds obtained for a child injury claim must be placed in a protected account or trust until the child is 18.
• A statement that the settlement is fair, reasonable, and represents the child’s best interest.
• Signatures of the attorneys, parties, and petitioner.

Where you file this petition depends on whether you filed a lawsuit before settling. You didn’t file a lawsuit, you must file your petition in the county where the minor resides. However, if you filed a lawsuit, you must file the petition at the same courthouse.

Any child injury is cause for concern. However, the most common cause of child injuries in Bakersfield is traffic-related accidents, including accidents where the child was injured as a passenger in a motor vehicle and those involving injuries to a child as a pedestrian or bicyclist

Drivers in California are generally required to operate their motor vehicles safely and legally to protect the safety and property of others. Because children do not have the developmental ability to accurately judge a gap in traffic or understand that it is not safe to chase a ball or other toy into the road, drivers owe children a special duty of care, especially near parks or schools, and to slow down in anticipation of children in these areas who could run out into the road.

Homicide is the second-most common cause of child injury fatalities in Bakersfield, behind only motor vehicles in the frequency of fatal injuries. Homicides involving children are most often the result of child abuse, though injuries are a more common outcome than death. The Kern County Child Protective Services investigates thousands of claims of physical abuse each year.

If child abuse at a daycare injured your child, you can file a claim against the daycare provider or even the company that employs the provider.

Unfortunately, contrary to popular belief, children do not recover better from traumatic brain injuries than adults. While it may seem initially that a child has recovered from the injury, it is often impossible to know the long-term impacts of the injury in a child until that child’s brain has reached maturity. At every new phase of development, new deficits can emerge that—without knowing that a brain injury had occurred—the defense could blame on learning disabilities or mental health issues.

The brain tends to develop from the bottom up and the back forward, meaning the frontal lobe—responsible for functions such as reasoning, judgment, and the ability to control behaviors and impulses—is the last part of the brain to develop. If a very young child suffers a frontal lobe injury, it could be years before the effects of the injury fully emerge.

Children who suffer from traumatic brain injuries often require special accommodations at school to assist them in working around the injury. These accommodations can include paying a paraprofessional who can help the child stay organized and provide instructional assistance; the extra time to complete assignments or finish tests; shorter school days or fewer days of attendance at school for the child to cope with fatigue, which is commonly experienced after a brain injury; and the option to take oral tests or tests written in multiple-choice form rather than in essay form; the ability to record lessons to play back later and refresh the child’s memory about the lesson.

Because of the permanent nature of brain damage, deficits incurred by your child’s injury will likely accompany them into adulthood and prevent the child from earning an income or completing personal care tasks independently. Your attorney will help you determine an appropriate level of compensation that can take care of your child’s future needs.

No. The IRS does not consider money obtained in compensation for physical injuries as income and doesn’t tax it. However, if your claim goes to court and you receive an award that includes punitive damages, the IRS can tax that portion of the award.

You should know that if you deducted medical expenses from your child’s injuries on your taxes and the settlement you receive on behalf of your child includes compensation for medical expenses, you must repay the IRS.

No, you cannot.

Having an attorney can be absolutely critical to your ability to recover the maximum compensation for your child. Lawyers spend years obtaining the education and training needed to provide the most effective services to their clients. This education and training take so long because the legal systems in California and the U.S. require complex formalities that the average person would not know and would find very difficult to learn in the limited time provided before settlement negotiations take place or the case goes to trial.

Filing any claim without an attorney means that you will not have the advantage of the attorney’s experience with the process. This lack of experience will not permit you to make errors or take shortcuts.

You will, instead, need to negotiate with insurance adjusters and attorneys, understand the evidence to prove your claim and how to obtain it, understand how to depose witnesses and what information to seek through depositions, how to file the claim and where, and many more overwhelming steps. You must do all of this when you have an injured child at home to care for. The burden is usually even greater for child injury cases, as the settlement must be approved by the court and found to be in the child’s best interest.

If the cost of hiring an attorney makes you reluctant to speak with one and causes you to wonder about filing a claim without one, rest assured that we can answer your legal questions and provide more information at no cost or obligation to you.

Additionally, if we decide to continue working together on your claim, you will not have to pay for your attorney’s services until there has been a positive outcome to your claim. Let a child injury lawyer from The May Firm help you obtain compensation after someone else’s careless, reckless, or intentional acts injured your child. For your free case evaluation, contact us online or by calling (661) 244-9712.