No parent ever wants to imagine that another adult might act recklessly or carelessly around their child and cause them serious injury through a preventable accident. Unfortunately, that exact scenario plays out all too often in Las Vegas and throughout the state of Nevada. If you are unfamiliar with the rights state law provides you to seek civil restitution after an incident like this, you and your family may have no choice but to cover the financial and personal losses caused by your child’s injury all by yourself.
Filing suit on behalf of an injured minor works differently than filing suit in your own name after an accident. Thus, guidance from our seasoned Las Vegas personal injury lawyers can be especially vital to getting a favorable case result. When your child is hurt due to someone else’s misconduct, contacting a Las Vegas child injury lawyer at Shook & Stone should be among your top priorities.
What Damages Could Be Recovered on an Injured Child’s Behalf?
Since children under 18 cannot represent themselves in Nevada civil courts, it falls to a child’s parent(s) or guardian(s) to take legal action on their behalf when they are injured in an accident due to someone else’s negligence. As with cases involving injured adults, “negligence” in this context entails someone “breaching” a duty they had to act responsibly and directly causing the injury in question.
The same economic and non-economic forms of harm that could be recoverable through a case built around an adult’s injury are typically also recoverable through a case pursued on an injured child’s behalf. In practice, though, it is often much more important during child injury claims to account for expected future consequences of the injury since young children have more of their lives ahead of them than adults.
With that in mind, compensable damages in a typical child injury claim may include:
- Lost overall quality of life
- Physical discomfort and pain
- Psychological and emotional trauma
- Lost future working and earning capacity
- Costs of childcare, in-home assistance, and other practical expenses related to caring for a disabled child
- Emergency medical bills and expected costs of future care, including rehabilitative therapy and assistive equipment like wheelchairs
Special rules may apply to settlement agreements made for child injury cases in Las Vegas, which our well-practiced attorneys could explain in more detail as needed.
Filing Deadlines for Child Injury Litigation in Las Vegas
Typically, someone injured through another person’s negligence in Nevada has two years at most after initially sustaining their injury to file suit over it, in accordance with Nevada Revised Statutes § 11.190(4)(e). This same deadline also applies to parents and guardians filing suit on an injured child’s behalf, beginning from the date the child’s injury occurred.
Notably, though, if a minor wants to file suit on their own, they technically have two years after their 18th birthday to do so, provided that no other claim has already been brought forward based on the same injury. Either way, support from our dedicated Las Vegas child injury attorneys can be key to building the strongest possible claim within applicable time limits.
Talk to a Las Vegas Child Injury Attorney About a Possible Claim
An injury to a child often causes much greater harm in the long run than a comparable injury to a fully grown adult. Unfortunately, this means the financial and personal costs of child injuries tend to be greater—as is the need for skilled legal representation.
The assistance your family may need is available from an experienced Las Vegas child injury lawyer at Shook & Stone. Call today for a free, private consultation with one of our qualified legal professionals.
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