child injury attorney

Premises Liability Case Involving Injury to Young Boy Will Proceed, Court Rules

October 15, 2017 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

In Florida, property owners are generally liable for dangerous conditions that are not obvious and cause harm to those who are lawfully present. There are varying degrees of a property owner’s responsibility in this area of law – known as premises liability – depending on the status of the individual who was hurt. For example, someone who is invited onto the property for the financial benefit of the property owner is owed a higher duty of care than someone who is trespassing.

In most cases, trespassers are not owed any duty of care, except that property owners can’t intentionally harm them or set traps. When it comes to children, though, the standards are different. Children are generally owed a greater duty of care than adults in the same situation, and this is true also when children are trespassing. The doctrine of attractive nuisance, for example, holds that if property owners maintain dangerous conditions likely to attract young children to the site, the property owner must be sensitive to that potential danger (which a child may not appreciate) by posting a warning or taking some other affirmative steps to protect children from that danger.

Recently in Minnesota, the state supreme court there considered property owner liability in the case where a 4-year-old boy nearly drowned in the Mississippi River and suffered severe and permanent brain damage. Continue reading ›

Playground Injuries and the Dangerous Condition Requirement

May 25, 2017 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

A recent playground injury involving a child reached a state supreme court, which was tasked with considering whether sovereign immunity laws protected defendant school district from liability for allegedly defective equipment.

Sovereign immunity is a legal principle handed down by the English that held the “sovereign” or government could not be held liable for tort actions. The theory is that the government needs to be able to carry out basic function and policies without fear of liability. But this is not absolute. In Florida, there are exceptions under F.S. 768.28, the state’s waiver of sovereign immunity.

Sovereign immunity laws vary from state-to-state. The case in question was weighed by the Colorado Supreme Court, which decided a piece of playground equipment that was not negligently constructed or maintained can’t be considered a “dangerous condition” for purposes of the sovereign immunity exception. Continue reading ›

Plaintiff in Child Injury Lawsuit May Proceed with Claim, Appeals Court Rules

May 10, 2017 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

Summer is on the horizon, which means many families will have more free time to explore the outdoors, taking advantage of Florida’s many parks, campgrounds and beaches.

However, there is something important visitors – including locals and tourists – need to understand about the risk they are assuming when venturing onto these sites for recreation. Florida’s recreational use statute, F.S. 375.251, limits liability of property owners who make public certain areas for recreational use without charging them. The purpose is to encourage those who own land, water and park areas to make those sites available to the public for outdoor recreation by limiting the owners’ liability for persons injured on those sites.

Essentially, visitors to these sites can’t make the presumption that any of these recreational areas are safe for any purpose. The property owner doesn’t owe a duty of care to the people who go to that area, and he or she won’t be liable or responsible for any injuries to people who visit the site. The only real exception to this is liability for deliberate, willful or malicious injury to persons on the property – and that is a difficult assertion to make. Continue reading ›

School Injury Lawsuit Alleges Negligence in 5-Year-Old’s Fall

August 13, 2016 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

An elementary school student’s mother has filed a lawsuit against a Connecticut school district, alleging that last school year, her 5-year-old daughter was seriously and permanently injured in a playground fall.

The child was running from the playground to the school building when she fell, hitting her stomach on the sharp edge of a concrete step. Despite the girl complaining of severe abdominal pain, the school didn’t contact anyone for medical assistance, nor did they call the girl’s mother. The girl told her teacher she had begun to feel worse after returning to class. Then, she developed a fever and began vomiting. By then, four hours had passed. Finally, the teacher contacted a nurse.

The girl was rushed to the hospital, where she ultimately lost one of her kidneys, an injury her mother has characterized as not only permanent, but disabling. The family has spent enormous sums of money on hospital bills, medical care and physical therapy, according to the personal injury lawsuit. Continue reading ›

Window Cord Strangulation, Choking Hazards Finally Prompts CPSC Action

November 25, 2015 | Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner

For more than three decades, child safety advocates have been advancing awareness of a serious problem in homes with young children: Window blind cords.

The window covering industry started back in 1985 raising awareness of the issue. However, manufacturers never took action to eliminate the risk – as was in their power to do – by scrapping the current model in favor of cordless blinds. Although such products do exist, a recent investigation by ABC News found that retailer employees are not well-educated in informing parents about which blinds are safe for small children.

Although officials with the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) have for years said they could not outright ban a dangerous product without initiating a lengthy process, they are now initiating just that. The chairman of the agency was quoted by ABC News as saying he wasn’t sure why the industry had failed to take these dangerous products off the market, “Other than greed.” Continue reading ›