No matter how much a parent or guardian monitors a child’s play and only provides them with products to play with that are supposed to be safe for a child to use, many families in Maryland and the surrounding states are looking for a good toy injury law firm Maryland parents and guardians can rely on.
There are few things more difficult for parents and guardians, than when their child gets injured. When a child dies, many families never really recover from this tragedy. When a child’s injury or death could have been prevented had it not been for one or more person’s negligence, the feelings of anger, guilt, frustration, and sadness can be positively overwhelming.
Personal Injury Claims
Personal injury claims typically stem from when an innocent person is injured because of someone else’s negligence (or malice or reckless behavior). Negligence is a term that is used to describe the failure of someone to use reasonable care. When a person or party fails to use reasonable care, and their failure to do this results in an innocent person being injured or dying, the injured victim and/or their family may be entitled to compensation.
Personal Injury Claims and Children
While the information in this article is intended as a general overview for parents and families of children who were injured by using a dangerous toy, it is not legal advice in any way. To learn more about the specifics of personal injury claims and children, a good place to start is with a reputable toy injury law firm Maryland families recommend.
Just like adults, children have legal rights. While personal injury claims for minor children and adults are similar, a distinguishing factor between them is that an adult personal injury claim may hold the adult partially responsible for their injury whereas this would not typically be done for a child. In a personal injury claim for an adult, both the at-fault individual or party whose negligence caused the victim’s injury AND the victim’s own negligence may be considered to be responsible for the victim’s injury. If the injured victim failed to act in a way that a reasonable adult would be expected to act in a similar situation, the victim would be found to be partially at fault for contributory negligence.
Children on the other hand are not typically assigned contributory negligence because a child is not usually expected to act in the same way a reasonable adult would act. This is because a child’s cognizance is still developing. A child’s age, physical and mental development, maturity and experience is not that of an adult’s and they are thus not responsible for behaving the way a reasonable adult would be expected to behave.
Who is to Blame for a Faulty or Malfunctioning Toy?
When a child is injured by using a defective or malfunctioning toy, one or more of the parties responsible for making the product available to consumers may be liable for the child’s injury. These liable parties may include but are not limited to:
- Designers
- Engineers
- Manufacturers
- Distributors
- Sellers
When someone is injured because of somebody else’s negligence, he or she may be entitled to compensation. This is no different for a child except that when a minor receives monetary compensation for an injury, it is typically given to the family or put in a trust, and the money is meant to only be used for the child’s care and well-being.
If you are in the awful situation of seeing your innocent child suffering because of injuries that are the result of someone else’s negligence, it may be in your best interest to discuss your child’s rights with a lawyer who is licensed to practice in the state that your child was injured in.
For an experienced toy injury law firm Maryland families can trust, contact Cohen & Cohen for a free case evaluation with no obligation to you.