FAQs

How Long After My Child’s Injury Can I File A Claim?

When your child in an accident due to the fault of another individual, causing serious personal injury or emotional trauma, you can file a child accident lawsuit to collect the deserved damages.

The statute of limitations, or the time you have to file a claim after it occurs, is two years after the child’s 18^th birthday. This means that your child is able to file a claim up until their 20^th birthday for an injury or accident that occurs. When it is a medical malpractice case, the child would have one year after their 18^th birthday to file the claim.

Read more about the statute of limitations.

While the statute of limitations does provide you with time to file a claim, it is recommended that you do not wait for years after the incident to pursue compensation. There are several factors that are affected over time, one being evidence, and the other being the ability to gain any witness statements or accounts of the incident.

We have provided several blog posts on this subject as well as a free legal book, Little Kids, Big Accidents that help the parents of injured children to navigate through the legal process.

Hiring a Child Accident Lawyer

One of the things that our law office strongly believes is the below 5 ways that a lawyer helps your child’s case. We have given a short summary with each reason, with the full version available in our previous post, Top 5 Reasons to hire a Lawyer for your Child’s Accident Case.

1. Do not miss deadlines – having a lawyer working on your behalf will ensure that you do not miss any deadlines when it comes to documentation or other things related to your case.
2. Evidence can be lost or destroyed over time – if you do not contact a child accident attorney relatively soon after your child’s accident, there is a chance that important evidence can be lost, or you may be unable to obtain valuable witness statements. The best thing to do is to contact an attorney sooner rather than later.
3. Do not sign medical authorization forms – allow your lawyer to review all documents related to your child’s claim so you can ensure that you are not signing something that could jeopardize the claim.
4. Do not settle a claim before speaking with an attorney – rushing to a settlement with the insurance company is not recommended as you generally receive a lot less compensation when taking a quick settlement. It is also recommended that you wait until the child’s medical care is complete so you are aware of the full amount of medical bills that have resulted from the accident.
5. Protect your child’s rights – your lawyer will take over all communication with the insurance company so you are no longer bugged by constant calls and attempts for you to agree to quick settlements.

Child Accidents in Toledo

If your child has suffered injury in an accident that was caused by another individual’s negligence or wrongdoing, contact the child accident lawyers at our office by calling 800.637.8170. We will review the accident with you, go over the effects that the accident has had on your child, and we will recommend the steps to take to ensure that your child’s rights are protected.