Connecticut Child Injury Lawyer

Parents often find it almost unbearable when their child is suffering. It is worse when an injury is preventable and results from someone else’s failure to take reasonable care.

When your child gets hurt in a preventable accident, talk to the seasoned injury attorneys at D’Amico Pettinicchi Injury Lawyers. They can evaluate the situation and explain your legal options. A Connecticut child injury lawyer at our firm could identify the person, company, or government agency whose conduct led to the accident and hold them responsible for your child’s suffering.

Determining Whether Negligence Caused a Child’s Injury

When you get hurt because of someone else’s negligence, the negligent party owes you compensation for your losses. Negligence is a legal term that means not using appropriate caution to prevent injuries to others.

Children suffer serious injuries in many ways, and not all of them are due to someone’s negligence. However, many child injuries are the result of negligence, including injuries sustained because of a:

Children could also suffer injuries when a landlord fails to remediate hazardous conditions or keep a building in good repair or when a home builder uses toxic construction materials.

Our proactive team of attorneys in Connecticut can review your child’s accident and medical records. When there is evidence that someone’s negligence contributed to the injury, they can bring a legal claim against the negligent party for damages.

A Child and Their Parents May Receive Compensation

The compensation you claim in a lawsuit is called your damages. Damages are the losses you or your child suffered because of the injury.

The money a child receives belongs to the child. Prior to the age of majority (18) the Probate Court supervises what the money is used for and how it is invested. Parents usually cannot access the money a child receives as compensation for an injury, but they often can assert their own claims related to their child’s injury for medical expenses incurred in caring for their child’s injury.

Child’s Damages

Your child is entitled to receive compensation for the pain and fear they suffered due to the injury. If the injury leaves permanent scars or have a lasting impact on their physical or mental functioning, the child may collect damages for disfigurement, disability, lost opportunities, and lost enjoyment of life.

When the injuries will require ongoing medical treatment, a child could receive payment for the injury-related healthcare expenses they will have as an adult. If the injuries prevent the child from supporting themselves as an adult, they can receive damages for their reduced earning capacity.

Parents’ Damages

Parents can claim reimbursement for medical expenses related to their child’s medical treatment and supportive care. In some circumstances in which a parent witnessed a severe injury to their child, they may bring a claim for emotional distress.

Get Legal Advice Immediately

Connecticut is very strict about the timeframe for bringing child injury claims. Connecticut General Statutes § 52-584 requires a child’s parent or guardian to file a lawsuit within two years of the injury. When the injury was not apparent immediately, a parent could bring a claim within two years of the date they discovered it, but no later than three years after the injury occurred.

However, the timeframe is shorter if the responsible party (the defendant) is a school or a local government. When suing a government defendant, you must submit a document called a notice of claim within as little as 90 days or six months depending upon the nature of the injury and type of governmental entity involved. Engaging a child injury lawyer in Connecticut soon after the accident ensures that all the necessary paperwork will be filed on time, preserving your child’s claims.

Get Justice for Your Injured Child With the Help of a Connecticut Attorney

Many parents experience anguish over their helplessness when their child is injured. You can take action to help your child by bringing a lawsuit against the negligent parties who caused them harm.

The attorneys at D’Amico Pettinicchi Injury Lawyers have an extensive record of success in these cases. Contact a Connecticut child injury lawyer at our firm today to set up a no-obligation, complimentary consultation. We can meet remotely or in-person at your convenience. Call now to get started.

FAQs: Connecticut Child Injury Lawyer

A little preparation can help your attorney get started right away. Consider bringing the following items to your first meeting:

Medical records
Incident or accident reports
Photos of the scene or injury
Contact information for witnesses
Insurance information

D’Amico Pettinicchi Injury Lawyers offers a free, no-obligation, fully confidential consultation to discuss injury to a child in Connecticut and the options available to your family. It’s Time to Fight the Good Fight.

Deadlines in child injury cases can depend on the type of claim, who caused the injury, and whether a public school, municipality, government-related entity, medical provider, or other special defendant is involved. Some claims may have shorter notice requirements, especially when public entities are involved. Importantly, Connecticut does not extend the limitation period until after a child reaches the age of majority.

Because the rules can be complicated and evidence can disappear quickly, families should speak with a Connecticut child injury lawyer as soon as possible after a serious injury. An attorney can help identify the correct deadlines and preserve the evidence needed to protect the child’s claim.

There is no set value, as every situation is different. The amount depends on factors like the severity of the injury, the cost of medical treatment, and how the injury will affect your child in the years ahead. The Wolcott case above shows how significant these claims can become when an injury changes a child’s life. Our team can review your child’s medical records and the circumstances surrounding the accident to give you an honest picture of what your family’s claim may be worth.

A permanent disability changes a family’s life, and Connecticut law allows a child to recover compensation for that loss. This can include the cost of future medical care, therapy, and any equipment your child will need as they grow up, along with an amount tied to how the injury will affect their independence and quality of life. If the disability limits your child’s ability to work when they become an adult, the claim can also account for that lost earning potential. The Connecticut child injury lawyers at D’Amico Pettinicchi can work with medical experts to fully document how the injury will affect your child over time.

Yes, a daycare, childcare center, summer program, camp, or after-school program may be responsible when a child is injured because of inadequate supervision, unsafe conditions, poor staffing, unsafe equipment, or failure to follow safety procedures. These cases often depend on what the provider knew or should have known, whether the injury was foreseeable, and whether reasonable steps could have prevented it.

Important evidence may include incident reports, staffing records, photos, video footage, witness statements, medical records, and communications with the facility.

Yes, in many situations. Schools, bus companies, and their employees must take reasonable steps to keep children safe, and a school can be held responsible when carelessness leads to an injury. D’Amico Pettinicchi Injury Lawyers proved this in a case involving a 12-year-old Wolcott boy with autism who suffered a permanent brain injury in a school bus crash. A Waterbury jury found that the bus driver had ignored his training, and the boy received an award of $23,050,000. Claims against schools and government agencies are subject to strict timelines, so families should act quickly and speak with a child injury attorney in Connecticut as soon as possible.

Child injury cases can arise in many different settings. A Connecticut child injury lawyer may handle cases involving school bus crashes, car accidents, pedestrian or bicycle injuries, daycare negligence, playground injuries, unsafe property conditions, dog bites, medical negligence, defective products, drowning or near-drowning incidents, and injuries caused by inadequate supervision.

The key question is whether another person, business, school, facility, or organization failed to take reasonable steps to protect the child from preventable harm.

Connecticut law allows a parent or guardian to bring a claim on behalf of a child, as children cannot represent themselves in court. Money a child receives from a settlement or verdict belongs to the child, and the Probate Court oversees how it is managed until the child turns 18. Parents can also pursue a separate claim for the medical bills and other costs tied to their child’s care. A child injury lawyer in Connecticut can help your family sort out which claims apply and file them correctly.