As a parent, few things are more devastating than learning your child has suffered a serious injury due entirely to the misconduct of another adult. Regardless of how your child’s injury came about or who specifically is to blame for it, though, it will be vital for you to proactively enforce your child’s right to civil recovery in the short term in order to protect their best interests—as well as your entire family’s financial security—in the long term.
Taking on a civil claim like this can be challenging on both legal and emotional levels, but you have help available throughout your legal proceedings from the compassionate personal injury attorneys at the Law Offices of David W. Holub. We understand how to fight tenaciously for the rights of families like yours while minimizing additional stress and heartache, and a Crown Point child injury lawyer from our team can put that knowledge to use in pursuit of the restitution your child needs.
Filing Suit on an Injured Minor’s Behalf
Since minors cannot legally represent themselves in legal proceedings, state law permits parents and legal guardians of children who get hurt in accidents to file suit for damages in their child’s name. However, any adult who takes on this responsibility for an injured child is required by law to act solely in the child’s best interest, so if there is any conflict between what would financially be best for the injured child and what would financially be best for their parent(s) or guardian(s) personally, the former must take precedence.
Furthermore, a court must approve any settlement agreement made on an injured child’s behalf by their parent(s) or guardian(s), and if such a settlement’s value exceeds $10,000, a court must establish a guardianship over the child to ensure someone can responsibly manage the child’s financial affairs until they are old enough to take possession of the money themselves. A Crown Point child accident attorney could answer further questions about these and other procedural matters related to this sort of case as needed.
What Time Limits Apply to Child Injury Claims?
Under Indiana Code §34-11-2-4, the maximum amount of time most people have to file suit after being injured through someone else’s negligence is two years from the date on which their injury first occurred. If a parent or legal guardian of an injured minor child is filing suit on that child’s behalf, that two-year deadline applies to them with very few exceptions, since they are acting as the child’s legal representative in court and therefore subject to the same rules they would be if they were filing suit on their own behalf.
However, if a child wishes to file suit on their own behalf over an injury they suffered when they were a minor, the starting point for that two-year statutory filing period can be tolled, or pushed back, until the child’s 18th birthday, except for situations involving medical malpractice claims, which have their own set of rules. There are also different deadlines applicable to cases stemming from a child’s injury due to sexual abuse, as a child injury lawyer in Crown Point can explain in more detail during a confidential consultation.
Speak With a Crown Point Child Injury Attorney About Your Case
No child deserves to suffer a serious injury under any circumstances, and certainly not because an adult was reckless or careless around them in a way they should have known better than to be. Nevertheless, accidents involving minor children happen all the time, and if your child was caught up in one recently, it may fall to you as their parent to take legal action on their behalf.
Guidance from a Crown Point child injury lawyer could be key to effectively pursuing the compensation your child deserves for the harm they should never have sustained. Call the Law Offices of David W. Holub today to schedule your free consultation.