Home Safety & Related Child Injury Lawsuits
Many injuries to children occur where parents probably feel that a child is safest: the family home. For example, a child may fall out of a window, a heavy piece of furniture may fall onto them, or they may suffer an electric shock when they come into contact with an electricity source. Parents can take certain precautions to reduce the risks to a child, such as installing safety devices on windows, anchoring furniture to walls, and covering outlets. They can keep dangerous items such as firearms, alcohol, medications, or chemical products in locked drawers or containers, and in locations that a child likely could not reach. If a home has a swimming pool, parents should install a fence around the pool and carefully supervise the child while they are using the pool.
That said, parents cannot completely prevent the risk of injuries to their child at home. Some of these injuries result from defective products, for which the manufacturer of the product may be responsible. When this happens, parents may have a legal claim for compensation.
Claims Based on Defective Products in the Home
Products liability cases may arise from items intended for general use in the home that caused injuries to a child. They also may arise from items made specifically for children, such as cribs, toys, or children’s clothing. Sometimes they even arise from defects in items that were specifically designed to keep a child safe. Strict liability usually applies in products liability lawsuits, which means that parents must prove only the existence of a defect that caused the child’s injuries. To hold a manufacturer liable, parents would need to show that the product contained a manufacturing or design defect, or that it lacked appropriate instructions and warnings for using it safely.
Compensation will cover the financial costs of treating the child’s injuries, including any future costs that parents will incur. In addition, a child can receive compensation for the pain and suffering, emotional distress, and other non-financial harm that they experienced. When a manufacturer engaged in especially egregious wrongdoing, punitive damages also may be recovered. For example, if a company knew about a safety risk in its product but failed to issue a recall or concealed information about the risk, this may support an award of punitive damages.
If a parent thinks that a defective product injured their child, they should not throw away the item. Instead, they should keep it in a secure place out of harm’s way and in the condition in which it caused the accident. The item may become vital evidence in a subsequent lawsuit.
Claims Against Other Parties
Even when an appliance, device, or property feature does not contain a defect, a faulty installation still might lead to injuries. In that situation, parents might have a claim against the company that handled the installation. Similarly, a company responsible for maintenance or repairs may be held liable if it did not perform its tasks competently. If parents live in a rental unit, they might have a claim against a landlord if their poor management of the property, such as a failure to promptly conduct repairs, caused injuries to a child. Strict liability would not apply in most of these cases, so parents would need to prove that the defendant failed to use the appropriate care. This usually means that they did not do what a reasonable person or entity would have under the circumstances.
The bottom line is that any accident involving a child warrants a careful investigation. Parents should consult an attorney who is experienced in this area of law and can assess their legal options. Most personal injury lawyers offer a free initial consultation, at which they can discuss the strength of a claim and the compensation that might be available. If parents decide to move forward, they likely will not need to pay fees unless they get compensation. Under the contingency fee arrangement that usually applies to these cases, the attorney will collect their fees as a percentage of the settlement or judgment.
