Child Injury Lawyer

The Killino Firm’s Philadelphia Child Injury Lawyers have achieved a national reputation for their skill and dedication in fighting for the rights of children injured or killed as a result of someone else’s wrongful conduct. Children are naturally curious about their environments and incapable of recognizing dangers easily apparent to most adults. This makes them particularly susceptible to injury from household and other products and unsafe situations created by unthinking adults.

When a defective product or another person’s negligence harms a child, the responsible parties may be required to pay damages to compensate for the child’s injury or wrongful death.  If a dangerous product or someone’s careless actions caused your child’s injury or death, the Killino Firm’s Child Injury Attorneys can help you hold the responsible parties accountable.

Common Causes of Avoidable Children’s Injuries

So many of the injuries and deaths suffered by children on a daily basis could have been avoided with proper care for their well-being and safer consumer products. Some of the most frequent injuries and their causes include:

  • drowning injuries and deaths on property easily accessible by children
  • serious dog bite injuries and deaths caused by unleashed pets
  • choking, strangulation, and poisoning injuries and deaths caused by dangerous toys and other products

Children’s Drowning / Submersion Injuries and Deaths

Children can sustain either fatal or non-fatal drowning injuries. A non-fatal drowning injury (also called a near-drowning injury) is an injury caused by a water accident that cuts off the oxygen supply to a child’s brain but that did not result in death.

Non-fatal, or near-drowning, accidents can cause:

  • severe brain damage
  • liver damage
  • kidney (renal) damage or failure

The negligence of landowners and others causes a great many children’s drowning accidents. A homeowner who does not properly fence his pool or property can be liable for the drowning of a child who finds her way into the pool. Owners and managers of businesses such as hotels and health spas can be liable for children’s drowning accidents caused by unsafe pool conditions or incompetent lifeguards.

Children’s Dog Bite Injuries and Deaths

Young children have an instinctive affection for dogs and do not realize the dangers they pose. When owners fail to properly restrain their dogs, children can sustain severe and sometimes fatal injuries from bites or other attacks.

Pennsylvania law holds dog owners liable for bite and attack injuries under certain circumstances. The damages a victim may recover can depend on the severity of the victim’s injuries as well as the circumstances of the attack.

Pennsylvania‘s Strict Liability Dog Bite Law

Under the state’s strict liability law, a child bitten or attacked by a dog is entitled to compensation from the owner, even if the owner was not negligent in allowing the attack to occur. However, this law applies only to attacks that the child did not provoke.

If the child sustained “severe” injuries, a court may order the owner to compensate the child for full damages, including:

  • medical expenses resulting from the injury
  • pain and suffering caused by the injury
  • any other losses or expenses caused by the injury

The state’s strict liability law considers an injury to be “severe” if it caused broken bones,  or lacerations that disfigured the victim and required several stitches or cosmetic surgery. If the child’s injury is not “severe,” the compensation available under the strict liability law is limited to the child’s medical expenses.

Pennsylvania‘s Negligence Dog Bite Law

If a dog owner was negligent in allowing the attack or bite of a child, the child may still recover full damages even for an injury that does not qualify as “severe” under the strict liability statute. Full damages are available in this situation under the state’s negligence dog bite law (commonly known as the one-bite law).

Children’s Defective Product Injuries and Deaths

Every day across the country, children sustain severe injuries or die from exposure to dangerous and defective:

  • toys
  • products intended for use by children, and
  • other consumer products

Products liability law defines products as “defective” if they contain design, manufacturing, or warnings defects. The makers of these products can be liable for children’s injuries and deaths that occurred as a result of the products’ defects. Other organizations involved in such a product’s production or sale can also be legally responsible for these injuries and deaths.

Common children’s injuries and deaths caused by defective products include:

  • choking on small parts of toys
  • being strangled by strings on children’s clothing
  • suffocating between a crib and an ill fitting mattress
  • eating or drinking toxic substances in household products without adequate child protection
  • falls from poorly designed riding toys
  • traffic accident injuries due to faulty children’s car seats

Philadelphia Child Injury Lawyers Fighting for You

The Killino Firm’s Child Injury Lawyers have what it takes to achieve justice for your injured child. If someone’s negligence or a dangerous product caused your child’s injury or death, call us today at 215-569-1299 for a free consultation about your case.

The Killino Firm's highly experienced and dedicated team of personal injury, defective products, and wrongful death lawyers and paralegals, headed by attorney Jeffrey Killino, represents clients throughout the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, area in a wide variety of personal injury and wrongful death matters.
They handled my suit very professionally and would use them again if I had the chance.
Lawsuit case
Date published: 07/23/2015
5 / 5 stars