San Antonio Child Injury Lawyer
Child Injury Lawyers in San Antonio, TX
Providing for a child can often require assistance from others. After all, it takes a village. However, when a child suffers injuries on someone else’s watch due to negligence, you may want to speak with a child injury attorney to discuss your legal options. When it comes to a child’s safety, most parents will do just about anything to protect the child’s interests.
A San Antonio child injury lawyer at Janicek Law Firm wants to provide you, the child’s parent or legal guardian, a free case review to discuss your child’s injuries. When a child sustains injuries from someone else’s negligence at a daycare center, school, or on someone else’s watch, you may be entitled to seek compensation. Call 210-366-4949 to schedule a free consultation with our legal team today.
Personal Injury Lawyer for Child Injury Cases
Did your child get hurt due to someone else’s negligence? Was your minor child caused severe harm or injuries under another’s watch, due to medical malpractice, or because of an unsafe public area? If so, the San Antonio child injury attorneys at Janicek Law want to take legal action on your child’s behalf.
Call Janicek Law firm today for a free consultation if you are looking for a San Antonio child injury lawyer. We understand as a child’s parent, you feel maximum compensation is owed in cases with injured children. Understand that if a child suffers from someone else’s negligence, our legal team will fight for your child and do our best to recover compensation that is just for your family through your child’s injury claim.
Texas Child Injury Laws
According to Texas laws, when an individual intentionally or knowingly causes a serious injury to a child or an individual with mental deficiency, legal disability, or impairment, the person is committing an offense. Even if this is by reckless omission.
The Texas Penal Code 22.04 defines a minor child as 14 years of age and under and needing supervision.
A person that negligently and recklessly causes an injury to a child can be punished with serious jail time and significant fines. A reckless individual that knowingly causes harm to a child could face up to 20 years in jail time, depending on the severity of the child’s injury case.
Other laws established under Texas Penal Code include the criminal act of endangering or abandoning a child. A person commits an abandonment offense when owning the custody, caring for, or taking on the role of a legal guardian to a child under 15 years of age while intentionally abandoning the child in a place that could harm them.
Common Injuries That Result in Personal Injury Claims
Common injuries that our team sees in child personal injury claims include:
- Broken bones from a car wreck caused by negligent driving
- Pool drownings that occur due to lack of adult or lifeguard supervision
- Animal attacks, especially those involving dogs
- Soft tissue injuries resulting from faulty playground equipment
- Birth injuries resulting from medical malpractice
If your child has suffered injuries on someone else’s watch, call a San Antonio child injury attorney. Our child injury lawyers have years of experience helping families with their unique personal injury claims. Each case has its own set of complexities that our compassionate attorneys will help you and your family to overcome.
Common Locations and Causes of Serious Injuries Sustained by Children
Accidents can happen anywhere, at any time. For San Antonio children, the likeliness of being in an accident is practically doubled compared to other locations. If you are in the Bexar County or Corpus Christi area, daycare injuries, school injuries, and car accidents rank among the most common causes of serious injuries sustained by children. Property owners and guardians must be held accountable when they choose profits over keeping a child safe. Our law firm will fight on your family’s behalf to help you financially recover from the injury and ensure your child has the resources they need to recover physically.
San Antonio Daycare Injuries
In San Antonio, negligence within the daycare remains one of the top reasons for a child’s injury. Children are delicate and fragile at a young age. Therefore, daycare workers should make their children’s safety a priority. When a child’s safety is not the top priority, broken bones and far worse injuries are likely to occur.
The San Antonio personal injury lawyers at Janicek Law understand that as a child’s parent, you want to protect them from any danger or harm. When you trust a daycare facility to protect your child, and an injury happens due to negligent employees, our attorneys are here to help.
What if the Child Suffered Injuries at School?
Under Texas law, all public schools have sovereign immunity protection. This means that a state agency is unable to commit a legal wrong and is protected from civil actions.
Schools and other childcare providers have an obligation to ensure their locations are as safe as possible for all children while on the property. Although schools cannot be found liable, individual staff members can still be held accountable for an injured child. When a child suffers injuries resulting from someone else’s negligence at school, an employee could be held responsible for their negligence.
Similarly, when school playground equipment is dangerous, this also might result in product liability claims held against the parties responsible for maintenance. When a child suffers injuries at school, our attorneys will perform a free case review to determine evidence to support the personal injury case.
Car Accidents
In San Antonio, the trauma one endures from a car accident can be literally life-changing. Any accident that involves an insurance company, a police report, or vehicle damage can bring on a sense of overwhelming stress. For an adult, a car accident can be a stressful situation. But for a child, the same accident can be traumatizing in more ways than one.
You may be asking yourself, what happens if motor vehicle accidents involve an injury to a child? Can my child be legally represented by a personal injury lawyer?
For most states, minors have restricted rights under the law. Whether attorneys can counsel a minor depends on various factors. The particular factors often include the circumstances of the case itself, the minor’s age, and their family situation under Texas law.
A minor cannot bring a lawsuit against someone else. However, the personal injury lawyer can help the parents of the injured child file a lawsuit. Therefore, if a child is injured in a car accident, their legal guardians will often seek an attorney to represent them. Our San Antonio legal team will work together with the child’s guardian to represent the child’s best interests throughout the legal process.
Negligent Supervision
If your child suffered catastrophic injuries resulting from the negligent supervision of a caregiver or legal guardian, our San Antonio law firm wants to help you. Our experienced child injury lawyers will provide your family with a free case review to discuss your child’s rights, the serious accident, and surrounding catastrophic injuries in question.
The organizations and daycare facilities that parents trust to supervise our children’s safety must take their leadership seriously. The time it takes for a child to be harmed in a traumatizing accident is but only one’s momentary lapse. Negligent supervision has a wide range of meanings and an unlimited array of injuries that could stem from the act, or lack thereof.
For example, when a child injures another child while under an adult or daycare’s watch, this can also be considered a result of negligent supervision.
Drowning
Drowning could occur if your child is swimming on a public property, ocean, or even with a friend on a property owner’s private lake. When an accident occurs that leads to a child drowning, the loss and damage a family experiences is tragic.
In the United States, the leading cause of deaths in children ages 1 – 4 still remains from drowning accidents. Children ages 5 – 9 rank second among the leading causes of unintentional death by drowning.
Over 66 deaths of drowning cases involving children ages 1-4 occur annually in the state of Texas. Drowning remains a significant cause of death among children in the Corpus Christi area.
Defective Toys
Fun toys often provide entertainment, happiness, and joy for your youngsters. Unfortunately, defective toys can sometimes come with imperfections, causing a child harm or other serious injuries as a result of the malfunction. Some injuries are caused from a toy manufacturing defect, where other injuries are due to the design defect itself. Defective product injuries could even occur if a company fails to warn their consumers about potential dangers. All of these issues could result in a product liability lawsuit and a possible settlement for the victim.
Manufacturing Defect
A manufacturing defect is basically an unintended malfunction in a product. The defects often happen in the creation of the toy itself. In other words, the toy had a proper design, but the defective manufacturing created an unsafe toy.
Design Defect
A design defect refers to a properly manufactured toy, however, something within the product’s design made it dangerous.
Failure to Warn
A toy can be dangerous to both children and adults if the manufacturer fails to provide proper instructions or warnings about its use.
Determining Fault for Texas Child Injury Accidents
Determining fault for Texas child injury accidents can oftentimes present challenging factors for any legal team. The San Antonio child injury attorneys offer a free consultation to discuss how our lawyers can help your family during this challenging time.
Potential Damages in Child Injury Lawsuits
Children and their parents can potentially win economic damages or non-economic damages depending on the facts of the child’s injury case.
Economic Damages
Economic damages refer to measurable losses that result from an accident. Examples of economic damages include a person’s medical expenses, physical therapy expenses, lost wages, counseling expenses, caregiving expenses, etc.
Non-Economic Damages
Non-economic damages are basically losses that don’t have monetary value. The loss following an accident can often present a wide range of difficulties for an individual, especially a child whose brain has not yet fully developed. Examples of non-economic damages include a victim’s emotional distress, pain and suffering, and ultimately sets the tone for an individual’s enjoyment for life moving on from the accident.
Punitive Damages
Punitive damages are designed to punish wrongdoers for their horrific actions and potentially deter other individuals from committing similar criminal or grossly negligent acts. However, a lawyer must first demonstrate convincing evidence that the defendant’s actions involved fraud, extreme misconduct, or gross negligence.
San Antonio Child Injury Claim FAQ
What is the Statute of Limitations for Children's Injury Claims?
Texas personal injury victims have two years from the date of their accident to file a lawsuit against the negligent party in question. However, exceptions do exist for this particular rule. Which means the deadline may be affected, especially in cases with injured children.
For example, in many cases, children under the age of 18 are determined to have a legal disability, as they are not able to press charges or recover compensation until they’re 18 without a parent or guardian’s help. So, unless someone hires an attorney on the child’s behalf, the child would be without recourse. Therefore the statute of limitations, without this exception, would be unfair to those who were injured by a third party’s negligence as a minor.
Another exception to this rule is if the injuries did not appear until later, or if the injuries were previously misdiagnosed. In these cases, you may have more time to seek compensation for medical expenses, therapy, as well as the other damages previously listed.
Who is at Fault in a Child Injury Accident in San Antonio?
In terms of children’s injuries, liability isn’t always black and white.
Oftentimes, when a child is injured, the caregiver is usually the first to take the blame. However, there are many situations in which another party actually bears the bulk of the responsibility.
For instance, if your child was injured on faulty playground equipment at daycare, while the caregiver did act negligently by not properly watching the child, the bigger culprit is actually the playground equipment manufacturer.
If your child is involved in an accident and sustains injuries resulting from another individual, the San Antonio Janicek attorneys are here to help. Our lawyers have years of beneficial experience with helping families build strong cases for their particular needs. Call today for a free case review with a San Antonio child injury lawyer.
Should I Accept a Settlement from the Insurance Company for my Child's Injury?
When it comes to settlements from the insurance company for a child injury, wait before accepting any offers. You should first speak with a skilled San Antonio child injury attorney so that they can ensure you’re receiving an appropriate settlement. The insurance company may be low-balling you without you realizing it.
How Long Will it Take to Receive Compensation for My Child's Injuries?
If you are looking to seek compensation in San Antonio for your child’s injuries, the time in each personal injury case can vary. When child injuries occur, a child injury lawyer could potentially benefit your family by accomplishing tasks in a timely manner, especially when issues arise with an insurance company.
Experienced Child Injury Lawyers in San Antonio
Janicek Law firm shares the heartbreak when a child is injured. Children bring the world peace, humility, and happiness. When someone neglects or causes harm in any way to steal a child’s innocence, they can and should be held accountable.
If you need an experienced child injury lawyer in San Antonio to recover maximum fair compensation for your child’s injuries, call the legal team at Janicek Law for a free legal consultation. Our lawyers truly understand how enraging it can be when someone hurts your child. Let our lawyers help your family through a free legal consultation to discuss the events surrounding your child’s injuries. Call 210-366-4949 to schedule a free consultation today.
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