Many adults have a duty to ensure children’s safety, such as kindergarten teachers and school bus drivers. If someone behaves carelessly or recklessly and a child is harmed as a result, a personal injury attorney could help hold that person responsible for medical bills and other losses the child endures.

Even child trespassers deserve reasonable consideration from landowners when safeguarding their property. These cases can be complex, as a duty to a child can sometimes be moral instead of legal. If your child suffered an injury because of someone else’s negligence, our Knoxville child injury lawyer is here to help.

What Duty of Care Are Children Owed?

The duty all people owe to others is to act reasonably in any given situation. If actions or inactions fall below what the law and society deem acceptable, this is a breach of that duty, and if someone is harmed because of the breach, they can seek compensation or negotiate an insurance settlement.

Maintaining this duty of care when it comes to children is crucial because their smaller frames make them more susceptible to injuries. Additionally, because their brains are not fully mature, children often do not know when a situation is dangerous. Some adults who have a duty to children include:

  • Parents and other family members supervising children
  • Teachers and daycare workers
  • Babysitters
  • Lifeguards
  • Coaches
  • Pastors and youth ministers

If someone’s negligent actions result in a child’s death, parents can file a wrongful death lawsuit. Our Knoxville attorneys could fight for your family if your child was injured.

 Damages Available When Children are Injured

As a parent or guardian, you can bring a negligence lawsuit for compensation on behalf of your minor child. Compensation after proof of negligence can be economic or non-economic. Economic damages cover calculable losses such as the child’s medical care and the wages you lose as a parent having to care for the injured child. Non-economic damages cover subjective losses, such as the chronic pain the child suffers, limits to the child’s future employment, a diminished quality of life, and the child’s emotional and psychological trauma caused by the negligent act of another.

Although you have one year to file a personal injury lawsuit, an exception exists for children if a parent does not file on the child’s behalf. The one-year limit begins when the child turns 18 and can file a lawsuit on their own. For understanding the best option in your situation, contact a Knoxville child injury attorney.

Laws Protecting Child Trespassers

Although Knoxville property owners owe no duty of care to adult trespassers, they do owe this duty to child trespassers who enter their property because they are attracted to something that interests them, as an injury lawyer could explain.

The Attractive Nuisance Doctrine requires property owners to take reasonable precautions to protect children from hazards they may not understand, such as backyard swimming pools, trampolines, and junkyards.

Contact a Knoxville Attorney About a Child Injury Case

If someone injures your child through their reckless or careless actions, your family deserves compensation for the financial and emotional losses you suffer as a result. You need an attorney who does not hesitate to protect the rights of the most vulnerable. We are ready to fight to get you suitable compensation for what you have endured. Contact a Knoxville child injury lawyer from our firm to discuss your case and learn about your options.