While child injury cases have many of the same qualities as normal personal injury cases, there are a few unique issues they present that require the knowledge and experience of a certain type of lawyer. For example, one key way that child injury cases differ from normal accident injury claims is that the parent or guardian must file the claim on the child's behalf. To make matters more complex, serious injuries sustained by minors can have life-long repercussions that must be accounted for in the damages. For this reason, it is essential that the attorney working on the case has the experience in child injury cases necessary to fight for proper compensation, while making the legal process as easy to understand for the child and his or her family.
Motor vehicle accidents stand as the leading cause of death and injury for children between ages 2 and 14. According to the National Center for Statistics and Analysis, around 250,000 minors are injured each year in auto accidents. In many of these auto accidents, there is not much a parent or guardian can do to prevent the crash from happening, however, safety restraints can make a huge difference in protecting the child from seeing even worse injuries. Between 1975 and 2002, an estimated 5,399 lives were saved by the use of child restraints (either child safety seats or adult seatbelts) and in 2005, it was estimated that 425 lives of children under the age of five were saved by car and booster seat use. These restraints, however, are only effective when used correctly.