Bus Injuries With Children in Kansas City

If your child is injured, your primary focus is on your child’s health and wellbeing. However, an injury to a child can be a serious legal matter. One or more parties may be legally liable for the damages caused by the injury. A Kansas City child injury lawyer can help you protect your child’s legal rights while you focus on helping your child through the physical, emotional, and mental injuries caused by another party’s negligence or wrongdoing.

3 Important Things Parents Must Know About Children & Bus Injuries

A child can be injured on a school bus or city bus. In either case, it is important to seek medical and legal help for your child. Three things that parents need to understand about the legal side of a case involving children and bus injuries are:

1. The Other Party May Blame Your Child for the Injury

Under Missouri and Kansas personal injury laws, you must prove that another party was at-fault for the circumstances that led to your child’s bus injury.  Sometimes, liability is clear.  However, proving fault in some child injury cases can be more difficult.child injury bus kansas city lawyer

Children are more impulsive than adults and can put themselves in situations in which the risk of injury increases. At the same time, children are not as mature as an adult. They do not understand the risks involved in some of their choices.

Insurance companies and at-fault parties often allege that a child’s actions contributed to the cause of injury. By alleging the child contributed to the cause of the injury, the insurance companies and at-fault parties hope to lessen their liability for damages.  An experienced Kansas City child injury lawyer understands how to argue that a child’s age and maturity level must be included in any evaluation of contributory fault.

2. Certain Deadlines for Child Injury Claims May Be Short

The statute of limitations restricts the time you have to file a personal injury claim. However, if a government entity is involved, the time to file a claim may be much shorter. In many cases, state, county, and city governments require that you file a notice of claim within months, not years, after an injury to protect your right to seek compensation for your child. If you have not filed a notice of injury or notice of claim involving a bus injury, you should contact our Kansas City child injury lawyer immediately. Let us know that the case involves a bus that may be owned or operated by a government entity.

3. The Court Must Approve Child Injury Settlements

Children do not have the legal standing to file claims or settle injury claims. Parents or legal guardians must file personal injury claims and personal injury lawsuits on behalf of their children. However, settlements of injury claims and lawsuits require court approval if the injured party is under the age of 18 years.

Court approval is intended to protect the child’s best interests. The court reviews the settlement negotiated between the child’s parents and the other party to ensure that the settlement is fair and just. A Kansas City child injury lawyer will understand the process for gaining court approval of child injury claims, including setting up a trust account for the child. The attorney can explain to parents the rules, duties, and requirements for managing a child’s injury settlement until the child is old enough to receive the settlement funds.

Stakes Are High When Your Child Is Injured on a Bus

If your child is injured in a bus accident in Kansas or Missouri, there could be long-term consequences. Just as in car accidents with children, child injuries involved in bus accidents can sustain life-altering injuries and conditions. In addition to the physical pain, your child may suffer from intense emotional and mental anguish because of the accident and injury.

Filing a personal injury claim for a bus accident is one way you can help your child overcome a tragic accident. The compensation received for a bus injury cannot undo the trauma your child has endured. However, a settlement can provide the funds for continued treatment, therapy, and counseling. Compensation can also provide necessary treatment and care for your child in the future if he or she sustains a permanent disability or impairment because of the bus accident.

Contact a Kansas City Child Injury Attorney for a Free Case Review

Accidents and injuries involving children are tragic and heartbreaking. They are also complicated and specialized personal injury cases.

The Law Office of Kevin J. McManus handles child injury cases, including cases involving bus accidents and injuries. We aggressively fight for the legal rights of injured children in Missouri and Kansas.

Contact our law firm by calling 816-203-0143 to schedule a free consultation with a Kansas City child injury lawyer.

 

Kevin J. McManus
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Kevin McManus is an accident injury and disability lawyer in Kansas City, MO, and Overland Park, KS