Articles Posted in Child Injuries and Death

As Tennessee personal injury lawyers who represent children who have been harmed by the negligence of others, we are frequently asked how quickly parents must act to protect the legal rights of their children.

Under the law in Tennessee, there are time limits on which any person can bring a lawsuit against another. The general rule is that a child has until one year after his or her eighteenth birthday to bring a lawsuit to recover for a personal injury. Some people argue, however, that a parent’s claim for medical expenses incurred on behalf of the child must be filed by the parent within one year of the incident causing the injury, and thus it makes sense to consult with a lawyer promptly about any injury to your child that you believe was caused by someone else’s negligence.

The rule described above also applies if your child was a victim of  sexual abuse in Tennessee.

Two recent tragedies in Middle Tennessee remind us that golf carts have no place on public streets.

One fifteen year old boy was killed (and several other youths hurt) in one incident and three girls were hurt in a separate incident.

People use golf carts to get around neighborhoods, using public streets to do so.  They assume that the golf carts are safe because they operate at relatively low speeds.

My 8-year old daughter was killed in a car wreck six months ago.  I have been avoiding it forever but I need to hire a lawyer.  I go to church with a lawyer and she says she can do a great job for me because she has a special relationship with the judge.  That seems important to me.  Should I hire her?

No.  Lawyers who say such things are scumbags. 99.9% of judges would never allow their personal feelings for a lawyer to directly affect the outcome of the case. To do so would be unethical, and 99.9% of judges would never consider acting in such a fashion.

It is true, of course, that judges tend to respect lawyers who are prepared, who show up to court on time, who understand law and court procedure, and who answer the judge’s questions directly and honestly. And judges, like every other human, would tend to more readily accept the word of a lawyer who earned respect than a lawyer who demonstrated that he or she was not entitled to respect. But disregard the facts or the law simply because of a personal relationship? No,  it rarely happens.

My daughter was injured in a fireworks show put on by our neighbors last night.  What responsibility does the neighbor have to pay her medical bills and other losses? 

Your neighbor’s responsibility depends on whether or not he was negligent in his use of the fireworks.  Your neighbor had the duty to exercise reasonable care while using the fireworks and, indeed, an argument can be made in the law that he had the duty to use the highest degree of care because fireworks are so dangerous.

So, before I can tell you want responsibility your neighbor has, if any, I need to know a whole lot more about how the injury occurred.  I also would need to know the age of your daughter and what she was doing at the time the injury occurred. 

I live in a neighborhood where one person has a backyard portable pool that is a couple feet deep.  However, there are lots of little kids in the neighborhood – one of them is mine.  There is no fence around the yard where the pool is located.  I am worried sick about a kid falling in the pool and drowning, but when I spoke to the property owner about it he said "if you keep an eye on your kids nothing will happen."  What can I do about this?

Recent news articles have demonstrated the risk of such pools, reporting that one child drowns every five days in portable pools.  However, unless local zoning rules or homeowner association rules require that the pool be fenced, there is no way you can force your neighbor to fence in the pool or keep it drained when it is not being actively supervised by an adult.

The law requires that the property owner exercises reasonable care for the safety of those who come on his property.  In my view, the pool creates what is known as an "attractive nuisance,"  meaning that it is an instrument of danger that the owner knows that children will want to play in.  This puts the property owner at high risk of being sued if a child is injured or dies in his pool.

My daughter, a high school student, was  run off the road by a tractor trailer.   She was badly hurt and had to miss a semester of school.  It looks like she will have permanent injuries as a result of the wreck.  What damages can she recover?

At the outset, let me remind you that no damages can be recovered unless you can prove that the truck driver negligently caused your injury.  The case you describe can be difficult, particularly if there was no impact between your vehicle and the truck and if there are no witnesses to the event. An experienced personal injury lawyer can help you determine the likelihood of success of your case.

Now, back to your question.  In a personal injury cases arising from accidents with trucks, you can recover monetary damages for past and future medical bills incurred because of the injuries, past and future physical pain and suffering, past and future mental or emotional pain and suffering, loss of earning capacity, disability, lost capacity for the enjoyment of life, and disfigurement.