Over the years many parents have entrusted me to represent their children on serious injury and wrongful death claims which have often resulted in significant physical and emotional harm to their children. The children have ranged from two to seventeen years of age on a variety of incidents. I’d like to share a few stories with you.
- My twelve-year-old client was accidentally shot by his friend who was playing with a pellet gun. The pellet nicked the boy’s left common carotid artery and lodged permanently within his neck, a short distance from his spine.
- Recently, I represented a five-year-old boy who suffered horrific burn injuries when a nearby adult negligently handled a loaded flare gun, causing it to discharge.
- My client was ten years old when he was bitten in the face by a neighbor’s dog. The bite permanently damaged his tear ducts and required several surgeries to repair.
- A few years ago I represented a twelve-year-old boy who suffered fractures to his upper and lower legs, extensive hardware placement and life-long peripheral nerve injuries when a motorcyclist collided into his bicycle.
- While riding his bicycle, my seventeen-year-old client was struck by a vehicle. He suffered a fractured lower leg and now has a rod permanently implanted inside his left tibia.
- Tragically, my two-year-old client lost her father because a bar overserved an underaged customer, who later caused a motor vehicle collision.
- My eight-year-old client sustained facial fractures and hardware placement in his face following a motor vehicle collision.
- The mother of a child yet-to-be born witnessed an assailant outside a local bar land one punch to the child’s father, killing him.
We often talk about damages as the amount of money that reasonably and fairly compensates people for injuries caused by others, usually past and future medical expenses, loss of earnings and damages for pain and suffering. But children’s injuries, when permanent in nature, take the concept of pain and suffering to an entirely different level. Statistically, children will live with their injuries (or loss of a loved one) for a much longer period of time than you or me, due to their youthful age. In turn, we expect juries to compensate children not just for the pain endured since the traumatic event, but for the pain they may be expected to endure for many years into the future.
I take great pride in fighting for the rights of children. I am grateful to the many parents who have entrusted their child’s legal representation to me. Because, eventually, these children will become adults, but unfortunately will always have a permanent reminder of something horrible they experienced during their youth. It is both personally and professionally rewarding to assist in making children’s future adult lives somewhat easier, despite all they experienced during their childhood.