This page was written, edited, reviewed & approved by Ruben Davidoff following our comprehensive editorial guidelines Ruben Davidoff, the Founding Partner, has 30+ years of legal experience as a New York personal injury attorney.
Claims against a New York City public school can require notice within 90 days. Have your child's case reviewed now. Davidoff Law: 718-268-8800.
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When your child is seriously injured, your first concern is making sure they receive the care they need. At the same time, you may be dealing with medical bills, missed school, emotional changes, and questions about whether the injury could affect your child years from now.
If someone else caused your child’s injury, you may have the right to pursue compensation on their behalf. At Davidoff Law, we represent injured children and their families throughout New York City. We investigate what happened, identify those responsible, and work to protect both your child’s immediate needs and long-term future.
Call 718-268-8800 today for a free consultation with an experienced New York City child injury lawyer.
How Davidoff Law Can Help After Your Child Is Injured
Child injury claims require careful attention because the full impact of an injury may not be clear right away. A broken bone may heal, while a brain injury, spinal injury, serious scar, or psychological injury could affect a child for years.
At Davidoff Law, we can investigate the accident and build a claim that considers both the harm your child has already suffered and the problems they may face in the future.
Our legal team can help by:
- Investigating how and why your child was injured
- Preserving surveillance footage, photographs, reports, and other evidence
- Interviewing witnesses
- Identifying every potentially responsible party
- Reviewing school, daycare, property, or safety records when relevant
- Gathering medical documentation
- Evaluating future medical, rehabilitation, and developmental needs
- Documenting how the injury affects your child’s education and daily life
- Calculating current and future damages
- Handling insurance companies and settlement negotiations
- Protecting important filing deadlines
- Handling the court approval process for a minor’s settlement
- Taking the case to court when necessary
Insurance companies may focus on the immediate cost of an injury. Our goal is to consider the bigger picture, including whether your child may need future treatment, therapy, educational support, or other long-term care.
When Can You File a Child Injury Claim in New York?
A child injury claim may be possible when another person, business, property owner, school, or organization fails to act with reasonable care and that failure causes the child’s injury.
In a typical negligence case, the claim must generally establish that:
- The defendant owed the child a duty of care.
- The defendant failed to meet that duty.
- The failure caused or contributed to the accident.
- The child suffered injuries and damages.
For example, a claim may arise when:
- A negligent driver hits a child in a crosswalk.
- A landlord fails to repair a dangerous condition.
- A school fails to provide adequate supervision in circumstances where an injury was foreseeable.
- A daycare fails to reasonably supervise a young child.
- Dangerous playground equipment causes an injury.
- A dog attacks a child.
- A defective consumer product causes harm.
Whether someone is legally responsible depends on the circumstances surrounding the injury. Davidoff Law can investigate the accident and determine which parties may be held accountable.
Who Can Be Liable for a Child’s Injury?
Children interact with many different people, businesses, and organizations throughout the day. Depending on where and how an accident happened, several parties may share responsibility.
Potential defendants may include:
- Negligent drivers
- Property owners
- Landlords
- Schools
- Daycare providers
- Camps
- Coaches or sports organizations
- Businesses
- Dog owners
- Product manufacturers
- Contractors
- Transportation companies
- Government agencies
Some accidents involve more than one responsible party. For example, a child injured on unsafe playground equipment could potentially have a claim involving the property owner, organization responsible for the playground, or manufacturer of defective equipment, depending on what caused the accident.
Identifying all responsible parties is important because each may have separate insurance coverage and legal obligations.
Common Causes of Child Injuries in New York City
Children can be injured almost anywhere, from streets and schools to apartment buildings and playgrounds. Some accidents are unavoidable, but others happen because a person or organization failed to take reasonable precautions.
Car Accidents
Children can be seriously injured as passengers when negligent drivers cause collisions. They may suffer head injuries, broken bones, internal injuries, or other trauma even when properly restrained.
Claims may involve speeding, distracted driving, unsafe turns, failure to yield, drunk driving, or other forms of negligence.
Pedestrian Accidents
New York City children frequently walk to school, parks, stores, and public transportation. A driver who fails to yield, speeds through an intersection, makes an unsafe turn, or drives while distracted can cause devastating injuries.
Children may be particularly vulnerable because of their smaller size and because they may have less experience recognizing traffic dangers.
Bicycle and Scooter Accidents
Children riding bicycles or scooters can be injured by negligent drivers, dangerous roadway conditions, defective equipment, or unsafe property conditions.
Because a bicycle or scooter offers little physical protection, even a relatively low-speed collision can result in a serious injury.
School Accidents
Schools have a duty to adequately supervise students in their care and may be held responsible for foreseeable injuries that are sufficiently connected to inadequate supervision. New York courts evaluate school supervision by comparing it to what a reasonably prudent parent would provide under similar circumstances.
School-related claims may involve:
- Inadequate supervision
- Playground accidents
- Dangerous stairs or floors
- Unsafe school property
- Sports injuries
- School bus accidents
- Assaults involving other students
- Improperly maintained equipment
A school is not automatically liable simply because a child was injured. In cases involving another student’s intentional conduct, for example, courts often consider whether school officials knew or should have known about conduct that made the injury reasonably foreseeable.
Daycare and Childcare Injuries
Parents trust daycare centers and childcare providers to supervise young children and maintain reasonably safe environments.
Potential claims may arise from:
- Inadequate supervision
- Unsafe playground equipment
- Falls from furniture or changing areas
- Dangerous toys or equipment
- Choking hazards
- Unsafe premises
- Negligent employees
The younger the child, the more important appropriate supervision can become because young children may not recognize or understand dangers that an older child or adult would avoid.
Playground Accidents
Children can suffer broken bones, head injuries, cuts, and other serious harm when playground equipment is defective, poorly maintained, improperly installed, or located over an unsafe surface.
Liability may depend on whether a dangerous condition existed, who was responsible for the property or equipment, and whether reasonable steps were taken to protect children using the playground.
Slip and Fall Accidents
Children may be injured because of dangerous conditions in apartment buildings, stores, schools, restaurants, sidewalks, stairways, or recreational facilities.
Potential hazards include:
- Wet floors
- Broken stairs
- Loose railings
- Poor lighting
- Uneven walking surfaces
- Ice or snow
- Debris
- Unsecured rugs or mats
A premises liability claim generally requires more than showing that a child fell. The evidence must connect the injury to a dangerous condition for which another party can legally be held responsible.
Dog Bites
Dog attacks can be particularly traumatic for children. Beyond puncture wounds and other physical injuries, a bite may cause permanent facial scarring, nerve damage, infection, or lasting emotional distress.
Because New York has specific rules governing liability for injuries caused by dogs, these cases should be evaluated based on the animal’s history and the circumstances of the attack.
Defective Products
Children can also be harmed by defective or unreasonably dangerous products, including:
- Toys
- Furniture
- Playground equipment
- Car seats and other child safety products
- Bicycles and scooters
- Sporting equipment
- Household products
Depending on how the injury occurred, a manufacturer, distributor, retailer, or another business involved with the product may potentially be responsible.
Swimming Pool and Drowning Accidents
Swimming pool accidents can result in brain damage, permanent disability, or death. Potential causes include inadequate barriers, unsafe gates, improper supervision, defective equipment, or dangerous pool conditions.
These cases can require a detailed investigation into who owned or controlled the pool and which safety requirements applied.
What Are the Most Serious Injuries Children Can Suffer?
A serious childhood injury can have consequences that extend far beyond the initial medical treatment.
Common injuries in child accident cases include:
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Concussions
- Spinal cord injuries
- Broken bones
- Burns
- Facial injuries
- Scarring and disfigurement
- Eye injuries
- Internal organ damage
- Nerve injuries
- Amputations
- Psychological trauma
- Permanent disabilities
The long-term impact can be particularly difficult to evaluate when a child is still growing. An injury may affect mobility, education, social development, future independence, or the child’s eventual ability to work.
For that reason, serious child injury claims should account for more than the medical bills incurred immediately after the accident.
Are Children Held to the Same Standard of Care as Adults?
Not always.
New York does not generally evaluate a child’s conduct exactly the same way it evaluates an adult’s conduct. For children old enough to potentially be found negligent, courts can consider what would reasonably be expected from a child of similar age, experience, intelligence, development, and capacity. Very young children may be legally incapable of negligence altogether.
This matters when an insurance company argues that a child contributed to an accident.
For example, a child crossing a street, using playground equipment, or interacting with something dangerous may not appreciate a risk in the same way an adult would. Whether the child can bear any responsibility requires consideration of the child’s age and ability to understand the particular danger rather than simply applying an adult standard. New York courts continue to recognize age, intelligence, and experience as relevant considerations when evaluating children and dangerous conditions or objects.
Child Injuries at New York City Schools
When a child is injured at school, liability may depend on what caused the accident and whether school officials failed to provide reasonable supervision or maintain safe conditions.
Potential school-related claims may involve:
- Inadequate supervision
- Unsafe playground equipment
- Dangerous stairs or floors
- School bus accidents
- Sports injuries
- Assaults by other students
- Hazardous property conditions
Claims involving public schools can also have much shorter deadlines than ordinary personal injury cases. When General Municipal Law § 50-e applies, a Notice of Claim generally must be served within 90 days after the claim arises.
Because these deadlines can come up quickly, parents should have a potential school injury claim reviewed as soon as possible.
What Compensation Is Available After a Child Is Injured?
The value of a child injury claim depends on the severity of the injury and how it affects the child now and in the future.
Potential compensation may include:
Medical Expenses
This may include emergency care, surgery, hospital treatment, medication, therapy, and other necessary medical expenses.
Future Medical and Rehabilitation Needs
Children with serious injuries may need ongoing physical therapy, occupational therapy, counseling, future surgeries, or other long-term care.
Pain and Suffering
A claim may include compensation for physical pain, emotional distress, and the overall impact the injury has on the child’s life.
Scarring and Disfigurement
Burns, dog bites, lacerations, and other injuries may leave permanent scars or disfigurement.
Educational and Developmental Needs
A serious injury may interfere with school attendance, learning, mobility, or development and create a need for additional educational support.
Loss of Future Earning Capacity
When a permanent injury is expected to affect a child’s ability to work as an adult, future earning capacity may also become part of the damages analysis.
Can Parents Recover Compensation Too?
The child’s personal injury claim belongs to the child, even though a parent or guardian generally brings the case on the child’s behalf.
Depending on the circumstances, a parent may also have separate claims for certain losses or expenses related to the child’s injury.
Because the child’s damages and the parent’s potential damages are not necessarily the same, each should be evaluated separately.
How Long Do You Have to File a Child Injury Lawsuit in New York?
New York has special rules affecting the statute of limitations for minors, so the deadline for a child’s claim may differ from the deadline that would apply to an adult.
However, parents should not assume they can safely wait years before taking action.
Delaying a claim can create serious problems because:
- Surveillance footage may be erased
- Witnesses may become difficult to locate
- Dangerous conditions may be repaired
- Important records may be lost
- A parent’s separate claim may have a different deadline
- Claims against public entities may require notice within 90 days
The safest approach is to have the claim reviewed promptly so the correct deadline can be identified.
What Is an Infant Compromise in New York?
When a child’s personal injury case settles, the parent generally cannot simply accept the settlement and close the case without further review.
New York requires court approval of settlements involving minors. This process is commonly called an infant compromise and is governed by CPLR 1207 and 1208. The court reviews the proposed settlement to determine whether it is fair and protects the child’s interests.
The court may consider factors such as the severity of the child’s injuries, current medical condition, future treatment needs, and how the settlement funds will be distributed.
What Happens to a Child’s Settlement Money?
Settlement proceeds belonging to a minor are subject to court oversight.
The court can direct how the money is deposited or otherwise protected for the child. The purpose is to make sure the settlement remains available for the child rather than being treated like an ordinary payment to an adult plaintiff.
This is another reason child injury claims require different handling from standard adult personal injury cases.
What Should You Do After Your Child Is Injured?
The steps you take after an accident can help protect both your child’s health and a potential legal claim.
- Get medical care: Have your child evaluated and follow the recommended treatment plan.
- Report the accident: Notify the school, daycare, property owner, business, or other responsible party.
- Photograph the scene: Document dangerous conditions, equipment, vehicles, or other relevant evidence.
- Get witness information: Write down the names and contact details of anyone who saw what happened.
- Save records: Keep medical bills, reports, school records, photographs, and insurance correspondence.
- Document changes: Note how the injury affects your child’s sleep, school attendance, activities, mobility, and daily routine.
- Avoid rushing into a settlement: The full impact of a serious childhood injury may not be immediately clear.
- Speak with a child injury lawyer: An attorney can investigate the accident and identify the deadlines and claims that apply.
How Is the Value of a Child Injury Case Determined?
There is no standard settlement amount for a child injury claim.
Important factors may include:
- Severity of the injury
- Length of medical treatment
- Permanent impairment
- Scarring or disfigurement
- Future surgeries or therapy
- Impact on education
- Developmental consequences
- Future earning capacity
- Emotional and psychological effects
- Strength of the liability evidence
- Available insurance coverage
For serious injuries, it may take time to understand how the child’s condition will affect growth, education, independence, and future employment.
Contact Our New York City Child Injury Lawyer Today
A serious injury can affect far more than your child’s health today. It may also affect their education, development, independence, and future opportunities.
At Davidoff Law, we help families throughout New York City understand their rights and pursue compensation when negligence causes a child to suffer harm.
Call 718-268-8800 today for a free consultation with an experienced New York City child injury lawyer.
Ruben Davidoff, founder of Davidoff Law, established his practice in 2012 after moving to Queens in 1988 and beginning his legal career in 1997. Admitted in NY State and the US District Court for the Eastern District of NY, he has extensive experience in personal injury, handling various cases like airline crashes, auto accidents, and slip/trip and fall cases. Mr. Davidoff provides personalized attention, recovering millions for clients through settlements or verdicts, leveraging decades of experience.
