Among the most traumatic experiences a family can face is dealing with a child’s serious injury resulting from a car crash. Permanent or long-term injuries can result in expensive medical bills, lost wages of family members due to the time off needed to provide care for the injured child, inpatient and outpatient therapy, and pain and suffering. Young children are faultless in traffic accidents, making them entitled to compensation. When the negligent party is the parent, the accident often leaves more questions than answers.
According to Georgia State Patrol, a 2-year-old girl was taken to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston for severe injuries after being ejected from an SUV following a single-car wreck on the northbound lanes of I-85 on March 28. The child was a passenger in a 2000 Lincoln Navigator driven by her 31-year-old mother. The vehicle struck the median center wall. The child was in a child safety seat, but was ejected and landed in the southbound left emergency lane. The driver and 5 other passengers were unharmed.
The driver has been charged with a tire violation for using worn tires, driving too fast for the road’s condition, and a child restraint violation because the straps on the safety seat were loose-fitting, and one side was not latched. The small child was able to survive the big accident and was released from the hospital a few days later.
When young children are injured in motor vehicle accidents, issues regarding fault and liability are unique. If a child is injured because the parent driver has failed to properly install a child safety seat or properly restrain the child, the parent can be partially or totally liable whether it is a single or multi-vehicle incident. If there is a defect in the child safety seat, the manufacturer or distributor can be held accountable under the law. If the crash is caused by an improperly maintained road, the government entity may also be liable for the child’s injuries. Such issues need to be investigated and addressed as early as possible following an accident.
A passenger child injured in a crash due to the negligence of a parent driver is entitled to make a claim against that parent. In this case, the court appoints someone other than the parent driver to act as the child’s representative. Even when the parent driver’s insurance company is responsible for paying damages, issues can get personal if the claim is not handled properly. A personal injury lawyer will ensure that every aspect of the claim is addressed in the proper manner.
