Child Injury Lawyer

How These Types of Cases Happen

Child injury cases come from more places than people expect. Some of what we see:

• A daycare or school failing to supervise a child properly
• A dog bite on someone else's property
• An injury from a defective toy, crib, or piece of children's equipment
• A drowning or near-drowning in an unsecured pool
• A playground injury tied to broken or poorly maintained equipment
• A child hurt as a passenger in a car accident someone else caused
• Heatstroke or injury from being left in a daycare or school vehicle
• Injuries at a retail store, amusement park, or other public business (structural hazards, falling merchandise, unsafe rides)

Some of these involve a business or organization. Others involve a neighbor, a property owner, or a manufacturer states away. Where it happened matters less than whether someone failed to do what they should have.

Common Causes of Child Injuries

A lot of these injuries trace back to something that should have been fixed, checked, or watched more closely. Common causes include:

• Inadequate supervision at a daycare, school, or camp
• Poorly maintained playground or recreational equipment
• Unsecured pools, ponds, or other water hazards
• Dogs with a known history of aggression left unrestrained
• Defective products that weren't tested or designed properly
• Property hazards a landlord or business knew about and ignored

How Do You Prove a Child Injury Claim in Texas?

In child personal injury claims, what has to be proven depends on what caused the injury, but most of these cases come down to the same basic question: did someone have a responsibility to keep your child safe, and did they fail at it? Child injury attorneys generally work to show:

• Someone had a duty to keep the child safe in that situation
• That duty wasn't met
• The failure caused the injury
• The injury led to losses that can be documented

Depending on the case, this might mean pulling maintenance records, staffing logs, prior complaints, or a product's design history. We can tell you what applies to your situation for free.

What Is the Attractive Nuisance Doctrine in Texas?

This one's specific to Texas and worth knowing if your child was hurt on someone else's property, even if they weren't technically supposed to be there. Normally, a property owner owes less of a duty to someone trespassing. Texas makes an exception for children.

If a property has something dangerous that's likely to draw a child in, like an unfenced pool, a trampoline, or an unsecured construction site, the owner can still be held responsible even if the child wasn't invited onto the property. The idea is that kids don't always understand the risk the way an adult would, and property owners are expected to account for that.

Say a homeowner leaves a pool gate broken for months. A neighbor's child climbs through the gap and nearly drowns. The doctrine can apply there, because the pool was the kind of hazard a young child wouldn't recognize as dangerous, and the owner knew or should have known kids were likely to wander in.

This doesn't apply to every situation, and it tends to matter more for younger children than teenagers who can reasonably understand a given danger.

What Compensation Can a Child Injury Claim Cover?

What you can recover depends on the injury and what can be documented. Depending on the case, that may include:

• Medical costs, including future care if the injury isn't fully healed
• Pain and suffering
• The impact of a lasting disability, if there is one
• Costs tied to your own time away from work while caring for your child
• The value of the time and care a parent provides while their child recovers

This has to be backed up by medical records and bills, not an estimate.

Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case is decided on its own facts.

What Should You Do If Your Child Is Injured?

Get your child seen by a doctor first, even if the injury looks minor. Some injuries don't fully show themselves right away.

After that:

• Take photos of whatever caused the injury, whether that's a pool, a piece of equipment, or a product
• Get names and contact information from anyone who saw what happened
• Ask for an incident report if one exists, especially at a daycare, school, or business
• Hold onto any product involved rather than throwing it away
• Talk to a child personal injury lawyer before giving a statement to an insurance company or signing anything

How Ali Law Group Can Help

What we look into depends on how your child was hurt. That can include:

• Maintenance and inspection records for the property or equipment involved
• Staffing and supervision records at a daycare or school
• A product's design and manufacturing history
• Prior complaints or incidents involving the same hazard
• Insurance coverage that may apply

Every case is different, and we'll know more once we've reviewed yours. Ali Law Group works with families across Texas from its San Antonio and Houston offices.