Chicago Child Injury Attorneys

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Chicago Child Injury Lawyer

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Should I Hire a Chicago Child Injury Lawyer?

If your child suffered injuries because of the negligence of someone else, you’re going to need a child injury attorney to make sure your child’s rights are protected. Child injuries occur under a variety of circumstances. Negligent daycare providers, car accidents, unattended swimming pools, playground injuries, birth injuries, school bus accidents, and other hazards often cause severe injuries to children. In many cases, child injuries have a lifelong impact on children’s live, and the lives of those who care for them. When serious injuries cause a child’s life to be upended, child injury attorneys can help parents sue to recover the costs of caring for a sick, injured, or newly disabled child.

Filing a personal injury lawsuit on a child’s behalf can take an emotional toll on parents. The cost of treating a child’s injury, the stress of caring for a hurt or newly disabled child, and the emotional distress from a child’s injuries can make filing a lawsuit against the at-fault party seem like an insurmountable task. An experienced child injury attorney with Strom Yen Injury Attorneys can take over the legal process of your child injury lawsuit, so you can focus on your child’s recovery.

Did your child suffer a serious injury due to another person’s negligence? Our child injury attorneys can help you recover. call (312) 609-0400 to schedule a free consultation with Strom Yen Injury Attorneys.

What Is the Statute of Limitations for Child Injury Cases?

Child injury cases generally follow the same two-year statute of limitations as traditional personal injury cases. However, there are exceptions to this rule. In a personal injury lawsuit involving an adult, the statute of limitations begins on the day of the accident. In a child injury case, the two-year deadline is not initiated until the child’s 18th birthday. This postponement of the statute of limitations is known as tolling.

Tolling may also apply in cases where an injured child is incapacitated after an accident. The statute of limitations may be paused if, or until, he or she becomes mentally capable of pursuing legal remedies. A qualified child injury lawyer with Strom Yen Injury Attorneys can help you determine how long you have to sue for child injuries in Illinois.

Can I Sue If My Child Is Injured at School or Daycare?

When Is the School Liable for a Child’s Injuries?

Schools owe your children a duty of care to keep them safe and remedy potential injury-causing hazards. When a school negligently fails to uphold this duty, and your child sustains serious injuries as a result, you may be able to sue the school for damages.

Parents seeking to file a lawsuit against a school have to identify the liable parties and show evidence of their negligence. In some cases, parents may face additional obstacles in a child injury lawsuit against a school because sovereign immunity may apply.

Sovereign immunity protects government entities from being held liable in a lawsuit. Federal, state, and municipal government entities, as well as public schools, fall under sovereign immunity. However, there are special circumstances under which a school can still be held liable for a negligent act that caused your child’s injuries.

Parents can sue a school when the district’s actions, or those of its employees, contribute to or cause injuries to a child. This is more common in cases involving school buses, sports injuries, or a child injured because of sexual abuse. Though these cases are harder to prove, an experienced child injury attorney can help hold a school accountable for injuries. 

Daycare centers can also be held liable if children suffer injuries while in their care. A leading cause of childhood injuries that happen in daycare centers is the failure to adequately staff the classrooms, resulting in insufficient supervision. 

Filing a Personal Injury Lawsuit Against a School

To file a personal injury lawsuit against a school, parents must determine that the school or staff owed the child a duty of care, and whether that duty was violated. Proving that your child’s school was negligent requires you to establish that the school officials, district, school bus drivers, or other staff, knew about, or reasonably should have known about, the hazard that caused the child injuries. 

Evidence is crucial in proving your claim. Photographs, injury reports, surveillance footage, and medical treatment records can help support your claim. Claims for child injuries against an Illinois public school fall under a shorter statute of limitations compared to traditional personal injury lawsuits, however. Parents or victims have only one year from the date of the child’s injury, or one year after the minor’s 18th birthday, to file a lawsuit.

Common Types of Injuries Seen by a Chicago Child Injury Lawyer

Children are especially vulnerable to sustaining serious injuries when an accident occurs. Whether children suffer injuries in a car accident, through medical malpractice, on someone else’s property, or from defective equipment or unsafe toys, they can recover compensation to help reduce the long-term fallout of the unintentional injury.

Some common child injuries sustained after an accident include: 

  • Head injuries, concussions, and traumatic brain injuries

  • Chest and thoracic injuries

  • Fractures, broken bones, and dislocations

  • Organ damage

  • Emotional distress

  • Suffocation

  • Burns, bruising, and lacerations

  • Neck and spine injuries

 

Can a Child Injury Lawyer Tell me How Much My Case Is Worth?

The value of your injury claim will depend on the severity of your child’s injury and the impact the injuries have on his or her life. These factors will influence the amount of damages your child suffered, which determines the value of his or her settlement award. A judge may also consider your child’s pain, changes to his or her physical ability, fatal injuries, or whether he or she suffered catastrophic injuries. While a child injury attorney can help you calculate the value of your child’s injury claim, no child injury lawyer can guarantee how much you will receive, or whether your case will be successful.

Damages in a child injury claim include:

  • Initial medical bills

  • Long term medical care expenses

  • Costs for prescriptions and medical equipment

  • Disability or disfigurement

  • Future lost earning capacity

  • Pain and suffering, mental anguish, or other emotional trauma

testimonial stars

“I highly recommend attorney Kevin Yen, and the firm Strom and Associates, to protect your legal rights and interests as a consequence of personal injury caused by an opposing party.

My case was handled competently, professionally, and expeditiously by Kevin and his clerk(s). We were in communication on a regular basis, so I never felt ignored or forgotten.

These days, it’s rare to experience from any individual and/or organization service that exudes excellence and is personable. Attorney Kevin Yen of Strom and Associates both have earned such a distinction!”

In gratitude,
Michael Osborne
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Types of Cases Handled by Strom Yen Injury Attorneys

In addition to child injury cases, the lawyers at Strom Yen Injury Attorneys have experience handling a wide variety of accident claims. We are:

FAQs About Child Injury Claims in Chicago

Who Can File For a Lawsuit for Child Injuries in Illinois?

Children are considered minors in the courts, and therefore are unable to pursue legal action against a negligent party on their own behalf. Instead, parents or legal guardians can hire a child injury lawyer and file a personal injury lawsuit for an injured child.

However, in some cases, children may be able to file a personal injury lawsuit on their own after their 18th birthday. Illinois extends the statute of limitations for personal injury claims in cases involving injured children, starting the clock on their 18th birthday, rather than the date of the accident. 

How Long do I Have to File a Lawsuit for My Child’s Injuries in Illinois?

In Illinois, personal injury lawsuits generally carry a two-year statute of limitations. The statute of limitations is the amount of time victims have to sue the at fault party after an accident. Personal injury claims involving child injuries, however, qualify for exceptions to the statute of limitations. Rather than starting the clock for the two-year time limit on the date of the accident, minors can file a lawsuit within two years of their 18th birthday. 

Will My Child Have to Testify in Court?

Your child’s capacity to understand and interpret the circumstances of the accident will determine whether he or she will have to testify in a personal injury lawsuit. Typically, this competence will be evaluated and decided by the courts. Factors that influence whether your child will testify include his or her age, mental capacity, ability to communicate his or her recollection of the events, capacity to understand questions about the accident and injuries, and his or her memory. 

Contact our Chicago child injury attorneys at (312) 609-0400 to recover financial compensation. FREE consultation.