by Aronfeld Trial Lawyers | Aug 15, 2017 | Child Injuries
Children’s personal injury cases are similar to other personal injury cases in some ways, but unique in many regards. For parents or guardians, these cases often pose challenges both procedurally and emotionally, but knowing the important aspects of a child’s personal injury case can be helpful. 1. Get Your Child Properly Diagnosed After a child is involved in an accident–whether a traffic accident, fall from a height, or collision–it is essential that parents seek proper diagnosis of any injuries. In particular, parents should be concerned with injuries that don’t display outward signs or symptoms, as these can be difficult to identify. For example, a study from the United States Department of Transportation found that children are 10 times more likely to suffer incapacitating injuries in a rollover crash, but these injuries are unlikely to present immediate symptoms. Without medical care, a parent may not be aware of a head injury or damage to a child’s chest or lungs. To properly diagnose your child, it is best to seek comprehensive medical attention right after an accident occurs. In the following days and weeks, look for changes in behavior, such as onset of depression, disengagement in family activities, and altered sleeping habits. These are all further signs that something is medically wrong. 2. Document Everything Connected to Your Child’s Case A successful personal injury case is built on convincing and substantial evidence, even in claims made on behalf of minor children. This includes showing the insurance company and court medical bills, police reports, statements from eyewitnesses, and photographs. It is imperative to produce records of the injuries your child sustained and...
by Aronfeld Trial Lawyers | Apr 3, 2017 | Child Injuries
No parent wants to see his or her child suffer an injury or illness. Even if the injury is not life threatening, such as a fracture or broken bone, parents can be distressed about providing the care and responsibility necessary to help a child heal completely. It can be even more traumatizing and worrisome when the fracture is the result of another person’s negligence and carelessness. While the law cannot eliminate personal injuries to children, Florida’s statutes do provide a specific mechanism for children, and their families, to seek compensation for a personal injury to a minor. When there are fractures in children’s injury cases, these mechanisms can provide the compensation children require to receive adequate medical attention, helping families mentally and emotionally come to terms with the injury. Parents often also need a great personal injury lawyer to guide them through this process in Florida. How Doctors Categorize a Child’s Fracture Doctors categorize fractures in several ways. First, they will indicate if the break is partial or complete. As the terms suggest, a partial fracture is an incomplete break of a bone, while a complete fracture means the bone has entirely snapped or severed. Within these broad categories, doctors will further specify how the bone broke. Second, medical professionals differentiate between closed and open fractures. In a closed fracture, the child has a broken bone, but the skin is intact. In an open fracture, also called a compound fracture, the skin breaks and the bone exits the skin. This distinction is important because open fractures involve higher risks of infection. Medical Attention for Fractures and the Legal Process...
by Aronfeld Trial Lawyers | Dec 15, 2016 | Brain Injury, Child Injuries
What Happens If My Child Gets Injured at School? Every time you take your child to school, the school consents by an implied agreement to take on your responsibilities as a parent while the child is in their care. That responsibility goes beyond educating the child and includes providing a safe environment for the child. Even though most schools in the US fully understand that responsibility, unfortunately accidents can still occur and could result in serious injuries or even death when they do. Whether we realize it or not, child injuries at school are reported much more often than we think and while kids are more likely to get themselves into dangerous or potentially dangerous situations it is important to be able to identify when the school itself is the one to be held liable. Ultimately, kids will be kids; accordingly, the occurrence of accidents is more a matter of “when” than “if.” According to the North Carolina Department of Insurance as well as studies in other states, more than four-million child injuries are reported across the states every year. At least 25% of those injuries occur while the children are either within school property or participating in school activities. As a parent, your child’s safety is of the utmost importance to you, yet the last thing on your mind is the potential for a school-related injury involving your child. When the unthinkable happens, many parents wonder if contacting a school injury lawyer is a good idea and how a claim can be filed. If you ever find yourself in that situation, it’s important to understand how to obtain compensation...
by Aronfeld Trial Lawyers | Sep 30, 2016 | Child Injuries, Cruise Ship Accidents
Child Drowns on Carnival Cruise Ship In an incident that has rekindled attention to the matter of safety while swimming aboard cruise ships sailing the high seas, a six-year-old boy from Florida drowned on Carnival’s Victory cruise ship while heading back home on a four-day cruise. The boy, Qwentyn Hunter, was in the company of his ten-year-old brother, Jermaine Hunter, at the time of the incident. Qwentyn and his brother had pleaded with their father, Caselle Hunter, to be allowed to take a last dip in the ship’s pool, and their father allowed them since it was probably the last chance they were going to get before finally hitting land. There were no lifeguards at the pool and no other swimmers except for the two boys. Caselle watched the boys for a while but was carried away by a discussion with one of his wife’s church friends and took his eyes off them for a minute. His attention was to be sadly brought back to them when the DJ, who had been setting up for a performance as the kids entered the pool, suddenly shouted for someone to pull a drowning kid out of the water. A stranger jumped into the pool and pulled out the boy while Caselle turned around only to see the stranger carrying the boy out of the pool. It turns out that his elder brother had stepped out of the pool to dance to the DJ’s first few songs of the session and had left Qwentyn alone in the pool. Once Qwentyn was out of the water, other passengers and crew from the ship tried...
by Aronfeld Trial Lawyers | Sep 27, 2016 | Child Injuries, Personal Injury News and Safety Resources
Accidents and Injuries in Day Care Centers Hectic schedules often force parents to juggle fast-paced jobs with family, posing a difficult problem for most. Many parents today rely on the help of day care centers for their children so that they can find time for other important things. Entrusting a child care facility with your child’s life is a serious decision and requires a good amount of research. Unfortunately, not all day care centers in Florida are 100% safe, and sometimes accidents can occur that leave children with injuries. At such times, who bears responsibility for the injury? Are you, as a parent, entitled to any compensation? How can you ensure your child’s safety? To answer these questions, consider the following concepts. Daycare Inspections As in other states in the US, Florida’s regulations and codes of conduct govern the operations of day care centers within the state’s jurisdiction. Authorities conduct inspections of the day care facilities and issue citations to day care centers that violate code. Accidents and injuries that occur in day care centers with code violations on record are prima facie cases, with the day care center automatically assumed negligent leading up to the injuries. This, in turn, makes pursuing compensation a straightforward affair. However, things may not be as clear when there is no obvious code violation and, in such situations, additional legal concepts and discussions pertain. Daycare Contracts and Release Forms Most day care centers provide special release forms that parents are supposed to sign before leaving children in their care. Although each day care center can design its own release forms, many of the...
by Spencer Aronfeld | Jul 7, 2016 | Child Injuries, Cruise Ship Accidents
It appears that most cruise lines do not want to spend the money needed to protect young passengers from drowning in their pools. If it is not that they are trying to save money, I cannot understand the reason why they continually resist hiring and placing trained and competent lifeguards at their pools. Perhaps they argue that they would be exposed to even greater legal liability by not positioning the lifeguards in the proper places, not training them correctly, or for their failure to respond quickly enough. However, if they can find people qualified to get a massive mega cruise liner with 6000 passengers and crew from Miami to Cozumel three times a week, they can hire some Red Cross-approved teenagers who want to make some money and live on a cruise ship for three months–and most importantly save some lives. Unfortunately, until the cruise industry–Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, Celebrity, and Carnival–puts passenger safety ahead of profit, parents will need to make sure they put their vacation on hold whenever their kids want to enjoy the pools. Cruise lines simply prefer to place the responsibility for pool safety on untrained parents who have been plied with unlimited drink packages and spa days, and can easily fall asleep or be distracted from maintaining constant visual contact with their kids who are splashing around in overcrowded swimming pools with dozens of strangers. For example, last week RCCL’s Anthem of the Seas was forced to make an emergency return to port shortly after it left the Port of Bayonne, New Jersey, after an eight-year-old Dutch boy nearly drowned in one of the ship’s...
