Can Children File Claims For Personal Injuries?

Can Children File Claims For Personal Injuries?
Minors, just like adults, can be the victims of negligence. They can be injured just like adults can in motor vehicle accidents and other and various types of accident-producing events. Toddlers can and do oftentimes become injured at daycare centers due to the negligence of daycare workers. Regardless of the context of the accident, minors have the same rights as adults do to compensation stemming from personal injuries. However, a minor in Massachusetts cannot, on his or her own, file a personal injury claim. Rather, what must be done is one of the minor’s parents must file the claim on behalf of the minor. Before that can happen, the minor’s parents must hire a personal injury attorney in Massachusetts to represent the minor’s interests.
Minors cannot enter into contractual agreements. Therefore, the contingency agreement will be signed by the minor’s parents, as well as the attorney who will be representing the minor. These child injury claims follow the same claims process as well as the same core process as do claims for adults. A big difference between the two is before a settlement for personal injuries for a minor can be finalized, it has to be approved first by a judge. The necessary court process that is involved is called a petition for approval of a minor settlement. This is essentially a proceeding in which the personal injury attorney, as well as the minor’s parents, will go into court, and the attorney will present before the judge the background on how the accident happened and any terms of the settlement.
In all likelihood, the attorney for the insurance company will also be present, but it will be the attorney for the family that will be doing most if not all of the presenting before the judge. What the judge in that situation wants to see is that the settlement funds will be deposited in some type of savings account or investment account for the benefit of the minor. Judges, in this situation, want to make sure that the monies will not be spent by the parent. Once the judge is satisfied that the parents will act as fiduciaries and protect the money for the benefit of the child, then the judge will stamp the proposed settlement approved.