New Jersey Child Injury Lawyers

Brach Eichler Injury Lawyers are skilled advocates that seek just compensation when negligence causes harm to young victims.

If you are a parent, you spend a great deal of time thinking of your children’s future. Whether it’s their education, socialization, physical health or another aspect of their formation, your goal is to see them grow into capable, well-adjusted adults. But a sudden accident can threaten that future. A serious, catastrophic injury can put your child on a different life path, one of physical and emotional hardship, and dependency rather than self-sufficiency.

If that happens, the dedicated personal injury attorneys at Brach Eichler Injury Lawyers are prepared to help. We have the knowledge, skill and resources to fight for the full compensation your child deserves. We can’t turn back the clock and erase that terrible moment when everything changed, but we can help you recover sufficient damages to face a challenging future.

Do I Need A Child Injury Lawyer?

The first thing that you need to understand about a child who is injured by another party’s negligence is that the child will not be old enough to file a legal action in New Jersey. As a result, the statute of limitations on their claim can be tolled (or delayed) until they turn 18 years of age, at which point the standard two-year limitations period customary to most personal injury actions in the state would begin to apply.

Not all families can afford to wait several years to get justice, and parents may be able to initiate legal actions on behalf of injured children. You will want the help of an attorney in taking the necessary steps.

The parents of an injured child will be very likely to hear from an insurance company for the negligent party involved in their accident, and you will want to avoid any lengthy discussions with these insurers about accidents until you have legal representation. You need to remember that no insurance company is ever concerned with taking care of your child, but a lawyer has an obligation to only take actions that are in your best interest.

An attorney is going to be able to conduct their own investigation into your child’s accident to determine a true value to your case and then negotiate a fair and full settlement. When the insurance company does not make an acceptable settlement offer, then the lawyer could file a lawsuit to take the case to trial.

Why Choose Brach Eichler Injury Lawyers To Handle My Child Injury Case?

Brach Eichler Injury Lawyers was ranked a Top 40 Law Firm by the New Jersey Law Journal. We have recovered more than $425 million for our clients.

Edward P. Capozzi recovered least one (and as many as three) of the top 20 verdicts or settlements in New Jersey every year from 2012 to 2018. He also received the President’s Award from the New Jersey Association for Justice in 2015 and the Personal Injury Hall of Fame Award from the New Jersey Law Journal in 2014.

Keith J. Roberts is a member of the Bergen County Bar Association, New Jersey chapter of the American Trial Lawyers Association, and Health and Hospital Law Section of the New Jersey Bar Association. He is certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a civil trial attorney.

Charles X. Gormally has also been certified as a civil trial attorney by the Supreme Court of New Jersey. He is a member of the New Jersey State Bar Association and American Bar Association.

Brach Eichler Injury Lawyers also charges you nothing upfront to handle your case. We collect legal fees only when you obtain a financial award.

Types of Child Injury Cases We Handle

Children can be injured in a wide variety of possible accidents. Some of the most common kinds of accidents causing child injuries include, but are not limited to:

• Motor Vehicle Accidents — Children not only might be passengers in vehicles involved in motor vehicle accidents, but certain collisions may directly impact only the children. Some accidents could involve defective child car seats, faulty head restraints, or defective airbags.
• Recreational Accidents — Swimming pools are commonly one of the most common sites of child injuries and deaths, but other recreational attractions such as parks, arcades, and trampoline parks can also be frequent locations for child injuries.
• School Accidents — Children may be involved in a number of accidents on school property, and educators are clearly expected to prevent children from being hurt while attending school.
• Playground Accidents — Playgrounds are public property that needs to be regularly inspected and maintained to prevent possible child injuries that could be caused by dangerous or defective equipment and possibly even aged equipment.
• Dog Bites — Dog attacks can be more complicated cases for people to handle on their own because insurance companies often underpay these types of claims and many victims have concerns about how their claims will impact the dog owners who are often close personal acquaintances.
• Slip and Fall Accidents — Children could suffer injuries when they fall because of dangerous settings, and the property owners could be liable for damages when a child is hurt in a slip and fall accident.
• Defective Products — While most consumer products geared towards children are tested for safety, there can be products that end up being dangerous because of manufacturing defects, design defects, or failures to warn.

Certain child injury cases can involve other unique factors such as possible poisonings or choking hazards. Whatever caused your child to suffer any kind of injury, always speak to a personal injury lawyer about your case and what options you might have.

The toll of auto accidents on young children

The Centers for Disease Control reports that auto accidents are the number one cause of death for children. The use of infant car seats can substantially reduce the risk of injury to very young children, but children’s bodies simply cannot absorb the impact of a car crash the way adults can. Moreover, the devices meant to keep us safer, such as airbags and seatbelts, can cause serious harm to kids. Even the emotional toll of a vehicle crash can be greater for children; many suffer the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder or have recurring nightmares after a crash. If your child has been injured in an auto accident, you must make sure the attorney you retain understands that child victims have specific issues that need to be identified and compensated.

Common injury scenarios for New Jersey children

As children make their way in the world, they have some tough lessons to learn. Often a skinned knee, bloody nose, or bruised forehead can be very instructive. But when children are left without proper supervision, or are exposed to unreasonable dangers, the results can be devastating. Each year, children sustain serious injuries and suffer wrongful death due to negligence involving:

• School and daycare activities
• Playground equipment
• Amusement park rides
• Swimming pools
• Sporting events
• Trampolines

When a child is injured, Brach Eichler Injury Lawyers thoroughly investigates the circumstances to determine if negligence was a factor. Often, an organization is liable for negligent supervision of the children, or negligent hiring and training of unqualified individuals. A manufacturer could be liable for a product defect, or a property owner might be liable for allowing an attractive nuisance that created a foreseeable hazard for curious children.

Children and dog bites in New Jersey

Nationally, about 52 percent of dog bite victims are children 10 years of age and younger. The most frequently bit segment of the population is very young children. Dog attacks can be especially dangerous for children who cannot fight off a dog. Almost 50 percent of all fatally bitten victims are children less than one year old. Children can suffer crushed bones, nerve damage, blood loss, shock and dismemberment. In addition to the physical injuries, children suffer emotional trauma that can lead to night terrors and anxiety attacks whenever they are around dogs.

Estimating damages in a child injury case

A child’s injuries raise many questions as to an appropriate measure of compensation. For example, if an adult has a professional degree and the injury makes it impossible to continue in a career, a plaintiff’s attorney can present a reasonable estimation of lost income over a projected career. If a dancer loses a leg in an auto accident, an attorney can present a case for the loss of enjoyment of life. But for child victims, the future can be entirely speculative. There can be questions about a child’s long-term prognosis and their ability to recover. When it comes to making a jury understand and appreciate the full extent of a child’s loss due to injury, an attorney’s experience is vitally important.

What is an attractive nuisance?

Whereas premises liability claims in New Jersey cannot typically be filed by trespassers, the attractive nuisance doctrine in tort law provides that a property owner can be held liable for injuries to children trespassing on their property when injuries are caused by an object on the land that is likely to attract children, such as a swimming pool or trampoline. Property owners are expected to somehow secure these types of attractions such that they will be inaccessible to children when they are not in use, and property owners can indeed be held liable when a child is able to use and become injured by an attractive nuisance.

NJ statute of limitations for children’s injuries

In most personal injury cases, the statute of limitations is two years from the date of the incident. However, because injured children do not have the capacity to file a lawsuit, the statute of limitations is tolled until they turn 18 years of age. They can then file a lawsuit up until they turn 20. This extended period is important, because you might not know that an injury has affected your child’s development until after a two-year period has passed.

How is the statute of limitations affected if I have a claim against public entities?

The New Jersey Tort Claims Act does allow people to recover compensation for certain injuries caused by dangerous public property conditions that a public entity was responsible for or motor vehicle accidents caused by government employees. A person needs to file a notice of their intention to sue with the agency within 90 days of their accident. Certified letters will also have to be sent to all other liable parties. Any insurance that covers a child’s injury can be deducted from an award in a governmental entity case.

Child Injury Statistics

The Office for Prevention of Mental Retardation & Developmental Disabilities (OPMRDD) in the New Jersey Department of Human Services reported that children 4 years of age and younger are at greater risk of injury and account for 49 percent of all unintentional injury deaths among children 14 years of age and younger. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that New Jersey was among the states with the lowest rates of child injury death, 4.0 to 10.9 per 100,000 children.

Stanford Children’s Health reported that falls are the leading cause of nonfatal injury for children and drowning is the leading cause of unintentional injury-related death among children 1 year of age to 4 years of age. There are approximately 2,000 children 14 years of age and under who are killed because of home injuries.

Contact our accomplished NJ lawyers for your child injury case

If your child has been injured due to someone’s negligence, you want the full compensation those injuries deserve. Brach Eichler Injury Lawyers attorneys have a long track record of success in personal injury cases, but we also understand the special concerns that arise when the victim is a child. Let us help you get the compensation you deserve and the closure you need to put this horrible incident behind you. Call us today at (973) 364-8300 or contact us online to schedule a free consultation.