Child Injuries and Auto Accidents By Chanfrau & Chanfrau on July 15, 2016

At the law firm of Chanfrau & Chanfrau, we proudly represent all types of accident victims, including those who are too young to represent themselves in a court of law. Child injuries are among the most tragic that can occur as a result of someone else’s negligence. No matter who is at fault for an auto accident, it can be said with certainty that an injured child was not behind the wheel of any of the vehicles involved. However, that is surely of small consolation to you if you are the parent of a child who was injured or killed due to the negligent or deliberately wrongful actions of another driver.

When it comes to handling cases involving child injuries and auto accidents, the Daytona Beach, FL personal injury attorneys of Chanfrau & Chanfrau have the skills, resources, and pure tenacity needed to win. As a family law firm, we take cases involving children particularly personally. If your child has been injured in an auto accident, or if you have tragically lost a child in an auto accident, we will do whatever it takes within the boundaries of the law to ensure that the negligent party is held accountable for his or her actions.

Please know, however, that time is not on your side as the state’s statute of limitations concerning personal injury claims kicks in the moment your child sustains an injury. Please contact our law firm today to be advised of your legal rights and options.

Negligence in Auto Accident Cases

As your attorneys, it will be our obligation to provide evidence that the driver who is responsible for harming your child caused the auto accident in question by acting negligently. In order to do so, we must establish that:

The driver owed you and your family a duty of care (i.e., that he or she had a reasonable obligation to drive safely while sharing the road with you and your family, which is more or less a given);
The driver breached this duty of care by failing to act as a reasonable person would under the same circumstances (i.e., that he or she made the mistake or committed the act that caused the accident);
This breach of duty caused an auto accident;
Your child was injured or killed as a result of this auto accident;
You sustained losses and expenses as a result of your child’s injury or death;
The driver is therefore liable for the losses and expenses you sustained.

The above series of events must be demonstrated in the majority of personal injury cases. However, if your child’s injuries were caused by a defective automotive product, such as defective brakes, we would not have to demonstrate that the designer or manufacturer acted negligently as the defect itself would be evidence enough of negligence. We would, however, have to demonstrate that you could not possibly have known of the defect (e.g., you had never received a recall notice from the manufacturer) and that you had not altered the product in question in any way before the accident.