The health and wellbeing of a child is always a parent or guardian’s first and top priority.
There is nothing more upsetting than a parent seeing their child suffering in pain or distress.
Parents caring for an injured child have one singular focus: helping their child get better. Our experienced Kentucky child injury attorneys can navigate the legal claim, so you can focus on the wellbeing of your child.
If your child has been injured due to the negligence of someone else, Flora Templeton Stuart Injury Accident Lawyer’s personal injury attorneys can help.
A Kentucky “child injury” case may be brought when an individual under the age of 18 is injured due to the fault of another person or organization. In Kentucky, the parents or guardian of minor children injured by someone else’s carelessness or recklessness have a legal right to pursue compensation.
Examples of Kentucky Child Injury Cases
The Center for Disease Control estimates that 9.2 million children annually had an initial emergency department visit for an unintentional injury. Examples of Kentucky child injury cases can include:
- Car wreck,
- Semi-truck accidents,
- School bus accident,
- Dog bites,
- Gunshot victims,
- Bicycle accidents,
- Slip and fall,
- General negligence, and
- Death.
Tragically, Safe Kids Worldwide reported that nearly 32,000 children between the ages of 0-19 were killed as occupants of motor vehicles in the United States in the decade between 2009 and 2018.
Motor vehicle crashes continue to be a leading cause of death for children in the United States. If you have a lost a child due to the negligence of another, Kentucky law provides for the loss of affection and companionship that would have been derived from your child during its minority. Call our experienced child injury and wrongful death attorneys to see how we can help.
Proper buckling and restrains is the best way to save lives and reduce injuries according to the CDC. The CDC provides the following recommendations to reduce and prevent child injury or death:
Parents and caregivers can:
- Know how to use car seats, booster seats, and seat belts.
- Use them on every trip, no matter how short.
- Install and use car seats and booster seats according to the owner’s manual or get help installing them from a certified Child Passenger Safety Technician.
- Recognize that the safest way to buckle up changes as a child grows.
- Buckle children age 12 and under in the back seat.
You can also find further safety information, directed towards Parents and Caregivers by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
How Flora Templeton Stuart Can Help
Flora Templeton Stuart is a law firm dedicated to obtaining justice for child personal injury victims throughout Kentucky and the nation.
With extensive trial experience we know how to prepare with the best chance of success if your child personal injury case such as a car or semi-truck accident goes to court.
Flora Templeton Stuart was the first female lawyer to try a case in Warren County and has been in court ever since.
She provides personal representation with a local attorney for over 43 years of experience.
If your child has been injured, contact an experienced Kentucky Pedestrian injury attorney for a free review of your case we may evaluate your case for free. We have offices in Bowling Green, Glasgow, Greenville and Russellville, Kentucky, but we travel throughout Kentucky and Tennessee to meet with our injured clients.
Contact us online today, or call us at (888) 782-9090. You need an experienced, skilled and compassionate attorney to help navigate you through a Kentucky child injury claim.
How is a Kentucky Minor Child Injury Case Different from a Kentucky Adult Injury Case?
Child injury claims in Kentucky have longer statute of limitations than ordinary adult injury claims, as the minor’s injury claim statute of limitations does not begin to run until they reach the age of majority, or 18 years of age.
In other words, if a child was injured when they were 13, the statute of limitations does not begin to run until they reach the age of 18, as if the accident happened the day they turned 18.
This may be very beneficial for the medical treatment of the minor child, as they will have additional time to treat and ensure that they have fully recovered from their wreck-related injuries.
Sometimes, children are too young to effectively communicate the extent of their injuries. If your child suffered a concussion or brain injury, it may take years before the symptoms and full extent of the injuries are apparent.
Similarly, if the child has a broken bone it can take years of follow ups with medical providers before future treatment is known.
The longer statute of limitations gives parents and guardians more time to make sure that your child has received all the medical treatment they need for their injuries.
What should I do if my child has been injured in Kentucky?
If a Kentucky child injury occurs, make sure the child gets medical treatment immediately.
Get names and contact information of any witnesses to the occurrence.
Take photos of the scene to document the conditions or negligence that contributed to your child’s injury.
File a police report to document the incident. Do not talk to the responsible party’s insurance company without attorney representation.
Contact our experienced Kentucky Child Personal Injury attorneys as soon as possible so we can start working hard on the case.
Damages in Kentucky Child Personal Injury Cases
Damages for your Kentucky Child Personal Injury claim depend on the nature of the injury, the child’s medical condition and prognosis, among other factors. Some damages can include:
- Compensation for the minor child’s pain and suffering,
- Cost of medical care, including home care, medical devices and prescriptions,
- Compensation for permanent injury,
- Compensation for future loss of wages or inability to make a living,
- Loss of consortium (in the event of death)
- Punitive damages – in instances that involved intentional, reckless, or outrageous conduct, a court may award additional compensation in the form punitive damages to further punish the at-fault party.
What Happens if a Child Receives a Settlement Offer in their Kentucky Child Injury Claim?
Minors cannot sign an insurance company release, nor do they automatically receive their settlement money like most adults do in injury cases.
In Kentucky, after your child injury attorney obtains a settlement offer on their behalf, in most cases that settlement must be court approved by a Judge.
This is typically accomplished in the local district probate court where the minor child resides.
Our experienced Kentucky minor child personal injury attorneys obtain court approval without any additional fees.
If the settlement offer exceeds a certain amount, a “guardian” must be appointed by the local probate court.
The parent or legal adult raising the child will be appointed as guardian so he/she can act on behalf of the child in the case. This court-appointed guardian will be the one to sign the releases on behalf of the minor child’s personal injury settlement.
Our experienced Kentucky Child Injury Attorneys will file the appropriate probate documents in the appropriate court to move your child’s settlement on as quickly as possible.
What Happens with the Settlement Money in a Kentucky Child Injury Claim?
Once our experienced Kentucky Child personal injury attorneys obtain a settlement on their behalf, our office consults with the appropriate parent and/or guardian, and discuss whether the minor child would benefit from an annuity or structured settlement, or if the funds should be placed in a blocked account until the child reaches the age of 18.
Depending on the settlement amount, an annuity or structured settlement can be a great way to protect the child’s future. Structured settlements not only gain interest during the child’s minority, but can also be setup to be disbursed at certain dates in the future, like the child’s 18th birthday, 22nd birthday, 25th birthday and so on, in either lump sums, or monthly payments.
Flora Templeton Stuart Injury Accident Lawyer takes pride in helping structure a college fund annuity in many cases to ensure the child has those resources available to them when the time is right. The establishment of a college fund or annuity will not only protect the funds for future use by your child, but they may provide certain tax advantages.
What if My Child is Disabled?
If your child is disabled, our office can help establish a “special needs trust” to ensure the protection of the settlement funds, and that your child’s medical needs are met.
The court may also approve an interest-bearing blocked account for the minor child, where the settlement funds are placed in a special account and cannot be withdrawn without a court order.
The minors settlement money is prohibited from being used for clothing, food, shelter, or things that the parent or guardian should already be providing the child, so any guardian or parent will have to make a motion with the court and explain to the Judge what they wish to use the money for.
The judge may or may not sign an order allowing the guardian to use the funds for that specific purpose. Otherwise, the minor child will be able to access those funds once they reach the age of majority, eighteen (18).
Get a Free Case Review Today
Flora Templeton Stuart is a nationally recognized Bowling Green personal injury law firm with over 43 years of experience.
Not only do we have experience representing child personal injury victims but we only represent personal injury victims in car accident/semi-truck and serious personal injury cases, which often times include child injuries.
If your child has been injured due to the negligence of another, give our experienced attorneys a call today.
Contact us today or call us at (888) 782-9090 for your free case evaluation and see how we can help.
We are local attorneys with offices throughout south central Kentucky in Bowling Green, Glasgow, Greenville and Russellville and are ready to meet or travel to our injured clients.
Flora Templeton Stuart Injury Accident Lawyer is also licensed in Kentucky and Tennessee.
FAQ
What If I Can’t Afford an Attorney for my Childs Injury Claim?
We believe that child personal injury victims should not be deprived of adequate legal representation simply due to cost concerns. For this reason, when you hire our team, you will not incur any fees or costs unless and until we win your case and you receive compensation for your injuries.
How Do I Know Whether to Settle or Go to Court for my Child’s Personal Injury Claim?
The decision of whether to settle your child’s personal injury claim depends on a variety of factors. More often than not, a car, semi-truck or child personal injury accident case will settle before trial, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you should settle. If you are unsure whether you should settle or proceed with trial, contact our team today for your free case evaluation so that we can discuss the best option for you moving forward.
