Child Injury Lawyers in Washington

The effects of an injury to your child can be devastating. After all, for most of us, our children are the center of our universe. While our children have a lifetime ahead of them to make their mark on the world, they are also a very vulnerable sector of our society. If the negligence of another person has taken your child’s future opportunities and quality of life from them, it is important that you seek experienced legal representation as quickly as possible.

Your child may have been injured as the result of an automobile collision, negligent supervision, institutional failure, or negligence of another kind. The Kadish Twersky attorneys have more than 75 years of combined legal experience, representing children and their families in a positive, supportive manner during an extremely difficult time. Kadish Twersky lawyers are highly skilled in representing children; both Jeff Twersky and Glenn Kadish have been appointed by the Superior Court as settlement guardian ad litem.

Kadish Twersky will always represent the best interests of children in a court of law. Further, Kadish Twersky has recently merged with Palace Law. This merger offers all our clients an even more experienced, more diverse legal team—a legal team that will work aggressively on behalf of every single client, searching tirelessly for the right outcome. The Kadish Twersky child injury lawyers will pursue the financial compensation your child and your family deserve, following an accident caused by a negligent party. 

Most Common Causes of Injuries to Children

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, motor vehicle accidents are the top cause of death from injury, particularly among children between the ages of 5 and 19. In fact, every single hour, there are 150 children being seen in emergency rooms across the nation because of serious motor vehicle accidents. For children between the ages of one and four, drowning is the most common cause of death from injury, with three children dying every day from drowning. Poisoning and burns each take the lives of two children per day; more than 300 children between the ages of 0 and 19 are admitted to an ER each day for poisoning, with another 300 admitted for burns received.

The most common source of poisoning is household chemicals and medicines. Younger children are more likely to receive a serious burn from hot liquids or steam, while older children are more likely to receive a serious burn from direct contact with fire. As far as non-fatal injuries, falls are the most common cause of such injuries for children between the ages of 0 and 19, with as many as 8,000 children visiting ER departments each day from fall injuries. Stanford Children’s Health found that some 254,000 children are injured annually as a result of bicycle-related accidents.

Brainline found that more than 200,000 children visit emergency rooms each year due to a playground-related injury. The vast majority (79 percent) of these playground injuries involve falls. Public playgrounds are much more often the location of injuries to children than are home playgrounds. Monkey bars and climbing equipment are responsible for as many as 40 percent of all playground injuries. Injuries to children also occur during sports practice, whether after-school or during school hours. Football is responsible for more injuries than any other school-sponsored sport.  Boys are three times as likely to incur a playground or sport-related injury than girls.  

 Injuries to Children from Negligent Supervision

As a parent, when you trust someone to take care of your child, and that person fails to act in a reasonable or responsible way, this failure will likely cause you great distress. If your child is injured as a result of the negligent supervision of another, you may decide to seek legal remedy. Perhaps your child was injured because his or her caregiver was inattentive, or perhaps your child was injured because the adult in charge failed to properly supervise. Negligent supervision can occur at schools, camps, churches, or private homes. Negligent supervision often occurs due to one or more of the following:

• Insufficient staff;
• The inattention of caregivers in protecting children from danger (swimming pools, animals, traffic, etc.);
• Toxic chemicals left out where a child could ingest them;
• Matches or lighters left in reach of a child;
• Accidental shootings from an unsecured firearm;
• Overall neglect of a child from caregivers or foster parents;
• Failure of a daycare to monitor a known aggressive child who then injures another child, or
• Choking, due to inappropriately sized foods.

Differences in children, as well as different ages of children, mean that the level of risk and the level of supervision required varies considerably. Because of this, there are no clear rules for what negligent supervision means in any given context. Although going to class and walking around school property generally do not pose risks to children, there are exceptions, such as bullying or assault by another student. Schools must not only supervise all situations involving students, they must also immediately address any safety risks which arise.

Negligent supervision can occur in a childcare or nursery school environment, or while children are at school. While a child can be injured on playground equipment as he or she uses the equipment in the “normal” manner, it is more likely that a child will be injured on playground equipment when the equipment is not being used as intended and when there is a lack of supervision.

Those in charge of children in a nursery school or daycare setting must be hyper-vigilant and must ensure the areas are properly childproofed. As an example, if a pan of boiling water is left on the stove at a daycare, the adult is outside talking on the phone, and a child pulls the boiling water onto him or her, then negligent supervision definitely occurred.

Motor Vehicle Accident Injuries to Children

According to a 2017 New York Times article, the most common cause of death in children under the age of 15 is unintentional injury—and the most common cause of unintentional injury is car accidents. The majority of the children who died in a motor vehicle accident, and a significant number of those who were seriously injured, were not wearing a safety belt. Far too many children are improperly restrained or unrestrained. Others are inappropriately sitting in the front seat, while still others were riding in cars driven by an adult who was under the influence of alcohol. If a negligent driver causes injury to a child through a motor vehicle accident, the negligent driver should be held liable for the child’s injuries.

How are Children’s Interests Represented in the Court System?

When a child is the innocent victim of negligence, the child often has little say in whether justice will prevail. If your child has been injured, you must seek the justice your child deserves. The way to accomplish this is to consult an experienced injury attorney. The Kadish Twersky Law Firm offers more than 75 years of combined legal experience. We routinely protect individuals—including children—against responsible people, powerful insurance agencies, and even corporations.

While money will not change what happened, an equitable settlement for the injuries suffered by your child can help ensure a brighter future. During this difficult time in your life, we will help you through the process in a positive, supportive manner. If your child could benefit from having an experienced, professional attorney in Everett, Seattle, Snohomish, King, or Skagit Counties, contact Kadish Twersky today.