When someone else’s negligence causes injuries to children, they deserve to get compensation. Accidents are the primary cause of morbidity and death in underage children, as reports by the Centers for Disease Control highlight.
Given the different ways in which child injuries can occur, determining liability can be confusing. Your child may sustain injuries from a car accident, a bicycle accident, dog bites, and caregiver’s negligence, to mention a few. An experienced Macon personal injury lawyer from John Foy & Associates can help you determine liability and assist you with your claim.
What Should You Do If Your Child Is Injured?
When your child sustains an injury, you should immediately seek medical attention. This is not only vital to saving your child’s life, but it is also a significant determinant of the outcome of your case. Common injuries include burns, bites, PTSD, concussions, and wrongful death, to mention a few. You can use the medical records as evidence that your child sustained severe injuries.
Also, note that if your child suffers serious injuries that require lifelong treatment, you need to be compensated for future medical expenses. Ideally, trust funds need to be established to cater to these expenses. It would help if you also considered emotional trauma.
After making sure that your child’s life is out of danger, you should:
- Get the contact details of everyone at the accident scene
- Collect evidence of the accident scene and your child’s injuries by taking photographs and videos
- File a report of the incident to the relevant authorities
- Take the contact information of any witnesses
- Get in touch with a reputable child injury attorney.
A member of our team can help if your child sustained injuries due to an animal attack, car wreck, slip and fall, or even a motorcycle accident in Macon.
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Determining Fault in Macon Child Injury Cases
In Georgia, most accidents involving children are usually caused by negligence. You will need to prove that the defendant owed a duty of care to the child but failed to do as expected. The owed duty may encompass the standard care a reasonable person would give under the same circumstances.
Sometimes, a child injury case may involve medical malpractice. The vital question, in this case, would be whether the medical practitioner applied the same skills that their colleagues with the same level of experience and working in the same field would have used.
Types of Damages You Can Recover from a Macon Child Injury Case
Child injury lawyers in Macon can help you get several types of compensation for your child’s injury claim. Our attorneys can help you pursue compensation for:
Economic Damages
These are not hard to calculate, and they involve all expenses you incurred following your child’s injury. Examples are medical bills, therapy sessions, and lost wages, to mention a few.
Non-Economic Damages
These are intangible damages. They include the emotional and psychological pain the child and their loved ones had to go through after the accident, such as the inability to lead a normal life.
Georgia Statute of Limitations for Child Injuries
According to OCGA §9-3-33, victims have a maximum of two years to file a personal injury claim. However, in the case of child injuries, the statute of limitations starts at the child’s 18th birthday. This means that child injury cases must be filed by the time the child turns 20. Note that other exceptions could change this filing period further, such as medical malpractice claims.
Hiring a Macon Child Injury Attorney
Children are different from adults, and children’s cases are also different from adult lawsuits. Child injury cases are more intricate than other personal injury cases because there are many factors to consider. For this reason, and so many more, you need an experienced legal representative to help you with your claim.
How Will a Child Injury Attorney in Macon Help Me?
Our qualified and experienced child injury lawyers understand the compensation that each type of injury needs and know precisely how to develop a life care plan for your child. Here are some of the top reasons you should hire a child injury lawyer.
We Will Represent You in Court
Because a child is considered a minor under the law, they cannot make decisions on their own. Courts in Georgia have set aside guidelines and procedures to make sure the child’s best interests are always considered. Getting a minor settlement approved involves filing an action and appearing in court. Your attorney will guide you through this process, ensuring your interests and those of your child are well represented.
We Will Help You Calculate Damages
When engaging in child injury settlement negotiations with an insurance company, you need to take great caution. Contrary to what you may think, the insurance company does not care about your child’s wellbeing; instead, their primary goal is to pay you as little as possible. This especially happens if your child has sustained disabling injuries.
It is worth noting that it will be impossible to recover additional money in the future once the claim is settled. This is notwithstanding how serious your child’s injuries get or how negatively their life may be affected by the injury. Because of this, you will need a child injury attorney to make sure that the compensation received is sufficient to cover your child’s future medical expenses.
How Much Will I Pay a Macon Child Injury Attorney?
The good news is that when you work with Macon child injury lawyers from John Foy & Associates, you will not have to worry about making any upfront payments. Our attorneys operate on a contingency basis. This means that you will only pay if we win your case.
Will My Child Need to Appear in Court?
Most child injury cases are often settled out of court. However, if your case proceeds to court, your child does not need to be present during the hearing. Instead, young children are often interviewed by child law experts, who know how to question them without leading their responses. An experienced Macon child injury lawyer can represent your child in court.
Talk to a Macon Child Injury Lawyer to Help You with Your Claim
At John Foy & Associates, we know how traumatizing it can be for families to handle a child injury case independently. Our able team of lawyers provides legal services to parents and guardians of children who have sustained injuries from another person’s negligent acts. We have assisted clients with many different types of child injuries across Macon, Georgia.
Contact us today to book your free case evaluation.
478-400-4000 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form
