If my child was hit in the head with a golf club by another child, who paysfor the ERbill?
Get Legal Help Today
Compare Quotes From Top Companies and Save
Secured with SHA-256 Encryption
If my child was hit in the head with a golf club by another child, who paysfor the ERbill?
My child was at a game as spectator when hit in the head and now has a concussion.
Asked on July 11, 2011 under Personal Injury, Missouri
Answers:
S.L,. Member, California Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
The parents of the child with the golf club would be liable for the ER bill.
When your child has completed his/her medical treatment and has been released by the doctor, obtain the medical bills and medical report. Compensation for the medical bill is straight reimbursement. The medical report will document the nature and extent of your child's injury and will be used to determine the amount of compensation for pain and suffering. Compensation for pain and suffering is an amount in addition to the medical bill.
If you are dissatisfied with settlement offers, you can file a lawsuit on behalf of your child for negligence against the other child's parents. Negligence is based on the failure to exercise due care (that degree of care that in this case a reasonable parent would have exercised under the same or similar circumstances) to prevent foreseeable harm. Your argument is that the parents were negligent in failing to adequately supervise their child. Negligence requires you to establish duty, breach, actual cause, proximate cause and damages. Duty is the duty of care to supervise the child. Breach of duty occurred by the failure to supervise the child with the golf club. Actual cause means but for the parents' failure to supervise the child with the golf club, would your child have been injured? If the answer is no, which appears to be the case, you have established actual cause. Proximate cause means were there any unforeseeable intervening events which would relieve the parents of liability despite their child hitting your child with the golf club? If the answer is no, you have established proximate cause. Damages refers to the monetary compensation you are seeking for your child's injuries.
You will need to be appointed guardian ad litem in order to file a lawsuit on behalf of your child because a minor cannot file a lawsuit.
You will need to file your lawsuit prior to the expiration of the applicable statute of limitations or your child will lose his/her rights forever in the matter.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Answer(s) provided above are for general information only. The attorney providing the answer was not serving as the attorney for the person submitting the question or in any attorney-client relationship with such person. Laws may vary from state to state, and sometimes change. Tiny variations in the facts, or a fact not set forth in a question, often can change a legal outcome or an attorney's conclusion. Although AttorneyPages.com has verified the attorney was admitted to practice law in at least one jurisdiction, he or she may not be authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction referred to in the question, nor is he or she necessarily experienced in the area of the law involved. Unlike the information in the Answer(s) above, upon which you should NOT rely, for personal advice you can rely upon we suggest you retain an attorney to represent you.