La Crosse Child Injury Attorneys
Parents all across La Crosse expect those they trust their children to will keep the children safe and healthy while in their care. Unfortunately, not everyone values the safety and health of children as their parents do, making it easy for a child to become a victim of another’s negligence, malice, or recklessness.
Most child injuries are preventable, yet people still hurt a child, or allow a child to hurt himself or herself. When these types of injuries happen, it is right to fight for justice for the child.
Nicolet Law is built on family, focused on helping, and dedicated to winning for La Crosse children who suffered injuries at the hands of another person’s negligence. A child should not have to go through life with the physical and emotional scars of another person’s negligence. Contact our La Crosee child injury attorneys for a free case evaluation if your child suffered physical and/or emotional injuries at the hands of a trusted adult, including school teachers.
Child Accident Lawyers Standing up for Children in La Crosse
No child should have to suffer from abusive actions and the injuries those actions cost, whether the injuries are car accident injuries, from a toxic or malfunctioning toy, a playground accident, or an accident at school. While some accidents are the result of a child’s natural curiosity, others are the result of another person’s negligence.
Not only can we identify the causes of your child’s accident, but we can also fight to hold the responsible parties liable for your child’s injuries, and help you obtain the compensation your child deserves.
Types of Accidents Your Child Could Suffer
Child injuries, catastrophic injuries, and death are often preventable.
Causes of some of these accidents include:
- Amusement park injuries caused by defective amusement park rides, ride operator negligence, and even park maintenance employee negligence. A ride operator who allows a child on a ride when the child is too small is negligent if your child suffers injuries or death.
- Bicycle accidents are often caused by a child’s carelessness, but in some cases, a defective bicycle can cause injuries. Additionally, even if a child wrecks the bike, a defective bicycle helmet could cause injuries. Other bicycle injuries that are not the child’s fault include poorly maintained bicycle paths and motorists who hit the child on a bicycle.
- Birth injuries are sometimes caused by medical malpractice, either during the mother’s pregnancy or during the birthing process.
- Children suffer burns—sometimes because of another person’s negligence and sometimes because of a defective product. A child not supervised could suffer a burn by touching a hot stove or if the bathwater is too hot. Defective products can also cause burns.
- Car seat injuries caused by a defective product or because someone improperly installs the car seat or does not buckle the child in the seat properly could cause injuries—even catastrophic injuries and death. We’ll investigate a child car seat injury accident to determine who should hold responsibility for the child’s injuries.
Additional injuries could include dog bites, choking injuries, crib injuries, injuries at daycare or school, defective toys, pool and drowning injuries, playground injuries, and school bus injuries. Whatever injuries your child suffers because of another person’s negligence, contact Nicolet Law for a free case evaluation.
La Crosse Child Injury Lawyer FAQs
Who might share in the fault for a child’s injuries in La Crosse?
Several people or companies could share in the responsibility for a child’s injuries, depending on the injury:
- Motorists who cause accidents, including bicyclist and pedestrian accidents.
- Property owners, including the child’s own property, playgrounds, stores, and municipalities.
- Toy and child product manufacturers.
- Health care professionals.
- Pet owners.
- Other parents.
- Sports coaches and/or other players.
- School officials.
- Manufacturers of playground equipment.
We’ll take the complicated steps of determining who might share in the liability for your child’s injuries. An experienced child injury lawyer will use his or her skill to investigate the accident to learn who should pay for your child’s injuries.
Who can file a lawsuit on behalf of a child in La Crosse?
Since a child cannot file a lawsuit, the parent or guardian must file the lawsuit. Depending on the state and the circumstances, the statute of limitations stops until a child turns 18 years of age, at which time, the child has a certain amount of time to file a lawsuit.
However, if your child will incur medical expenses and other damages, hire a lawyer to file a lawsuit on behalf of your child.
How much is my child’s injury case worth?
When your child suffers injuries because of another person’s actions or inactions, he or she can recover the same types of compensation as an adult, including economic and non-economic damages.
Economic damages. Special damages, generally referred to as economic damages, include:
- Past medical expenses for those incurred in the accident and before a settlement or trial award.
- Future medical expenses for those incurred in the accident and after a settlement or trial award.
- Future earning capacity if the child suffered catastrophic injuries or died in an accident.
- Replacement or repair of destroyed or damaged personal property.
- Funeral, burial, and/or cremation expenses.
Non-economic damages. General damages, usually referred to as non-economic damages, include:
- Pain and suffering, including emotional distress for the child.
- Emotional distress for the parent or guardian who lost a child in a wrongful death accident.
- Loss of companionship if the child can no longer participate in normal family activities and events.
- Loss of quality of life if the child suffers from injuries that result in a long-term or permanent disability.
- Loss of use of a body part, such as a hand or foot.
- Loss of use of a bodily function, such as the child’s eyesight or bladder function.
- Limb amputation.
- Excessive scarring.
What are some common child injuries?
Accidents could cause minor, major, or catastrophic injuries, or even death.
Some common injuries a child could suffer include:
- Cuts, scrapes, bruises, and bumps.
- Burns, including road rash.
- Shaken baby syndrome.
- Simple and compound fractures.
- Strains, sprains, pulled muscles, torn muscles, and other soft tissue injuries.
- Head, neck, and shoulder injuries.
- Traumatic brain injuries.
- Back and spinal cord injuries.
- Congenital injuries caused by medical malpractice.
- Internal injuries.
- Psychological injuries caused by abuse, mistreatment, negligence, and/or trauma.
What do I do if my child suffered injuries at daycare or school?
Before you do anything else, get immediate medical attention for your child. Take photos of your child’s injuries while at the emergency room. Report the event to the police and the appropriate agency for the school or daycare.
If someone inappropriately touched your child, you need to take immediate action so that it doesn’t have a chance to happen again. Once you file the reports and get your child emergency medical care, contact a child injury lawyer in La Crosse.
What do I do after my child suffered injuries in a school bus accident in La Crosse?
One of the parties you might sue is the school district. Other parties might also share in the liability for your child’s injuries. Generally, school bus accidents are the result of a driver’s negligence. The driver might have been driving impaired by alcohol or drugs, distracted, texting, or otherwise breaking the law.
Can I recover damages if my child suffered injuries in a public pool or a neighbor’s pool?
Yes. A responsible adult should watch the children at all times while they are in or near a pool. Even children that can swim well must have adult supervision. You might hold the person responsible for watching the children liable if your child suffers injuries from drowning or other injuries in a pool.
What if my child suffered pool or drowning injuries because he or she wandered into a neighbor’s yard?
Anyone who has a pool has the responsibility of keeping the pool safe. That includes making sure the pool has appropriate fencing and child-proof gates, maintaining pool equipment, maintaining pool drains, and ensuring that no children are unsupervised in or near the pool.
What do I do if my child suffered injuries while playing with a toy?
If a child’s toy is defective and causes injuries to your child, you could bring a product liability lawsuit against the toy manufacturer. In some cases, the toy’s designer and/or seller could share in the liability. You must show that the toy is defective, so don’t throw it away. You must also show that your child was using the toy as intended.
Who do I sue if my child died from accident injuries in La Crosse?
You can bring a wrongful death lawsuit against a person or entity that is responsible for the death of your child. A child’s parents or guardians can file the lawsuit. In some cases, the court might appoint a representative to bring the lawsuit.
Those who might share in the liability for your child’s death include:
- A person who caused a car accident.
- A public place that might be negligent, such as a store that is negligent in keeping the waking areas free and clear of debris.
- A doctor who misdiagnoses your child’s issues or a doctor who is negligent in the care of the mother during her pregnancy or during birth.
- A product manufacturer.
- Someone who owns the property where your child suffered injuries, such as from a trip and fall or a pool accident.
Why should I hire a La Crosse child accident attorney for my child’s injury case?
First and foremost, insurance companies are in business to make money. They don’t care about you or your child. They only care about their bottom lines. They will attempt to twist anything you say to use it to either deny your claim or to offer you a pittance that might not even cover your child’s injuries.
A child injury lawyer knows that insurance companies pull this stunt and, because of their experience, have a better chance of avoiding that trap. An attorney can not only expedite recovery, but in most cases can maximize recovery so that you receive the compensation you truly deserve.
How many La Crosse child injury cases have you handled?
We have handled numerous child injury cases.
Some of our results include:
- $1,200,000 for a young child who suffered burns in a car wreck.
- $150,000 for a teenager injured in a vehicle accident. The teen was a passenger in the vehicle.
- $82,500 for a young girl who suffered a dog bite.
- $572,000 for a family who suffered injuries in a car crash.
- $572,000 for another family who suffered injuries in a car wreck.
- $475,000 for a family who suffered injuries in a UTV accident.
While these are only past results and cannot guarantee an outcome in any particular case, rest assured that the caring professionals at Nicolet Law Accident & Injury Lawyers bring our collective experience to bear in securing justice for our fellow families in La Crosse.
Call Us to Compensation for Your Child’s Injuries
Just like adults, each child has the right to recover the compensation he or she deserves for his injuries. And, just like adults, a child incurs medical expenses for those injuries. In some cases, the injuries a child suffers could cause permanent disabilities. As a parent or guardian, you might need money for ongoing medical expenses, including physical therapy, occupational therapy, cognitive therapy, and other therapies, especially if your child suffers anxiety, depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder because of another person’s negligence.
As soon after your child’s accident as possible, contact a child injury attorney. If you have not notified the appropriate insurance company and/or authorities of the accident, including state agencies that regulate daycares and schools, our staff will help you make initial contact. After the initial contact to notify the insurance company of a claim, we will continue with the communication—you won’t have to do that.
Contact an experienced La Crosse child injury lawyer at Nicolet Law Accident & Injury Lawyers in La Crosse at 608-527-0876.
La Crosse Office
205 5th Avenue S, Suite 209,
La Crosse, WI 54601
Phone: 608-527-0876