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Compensation claims, Health and Safety, What to Do

I suppose we are now, commercially, in the run up to Christmas! I’ve seen the decorations start to come out in the malls and shop windows, and I’m seeing the cards and gift-wrap consumables prop up in every card shop and supermarket around. Personally, I don’t like to think that the run up to Christmas starts until December 1st! But my view is somewhat outdated; even my own girlfriend has started buying presents…

But it got me thinking about something. Toys – we all had them as kids. The sight of an action man or a beautifully constructed lego set has the power to regress most of us in to a moment of childhood memoir; but as the market for toys increases over the coming months, and as competition remains high to produce the biggest and best toys, is our children’s health and safety even considered during the process of design and manufacturing?
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Many would agree that a person under the age of 18 is not suitable to bring a claim for compensation on their own accord.  Sure, you may get a few mature 15, 16, 17 or 18 year olds who could probably do so; but a child of the age of 3 or 4 could not, nor a child of 10.  As such, a child, or a ‘minor’, i.e. a person under the age of 18, cannot bring a claim for compensation of their own accord. 

However, this is not to stop them claiming for compensation.  They can either wait until they are 18 and make a claim any time up until they are 21 years old, or a ‘litigation friend’ can do so on their behalf.  At The Injury Lawyers we would suggest that, where a child is particularly young or it would be a couple of years until they are 18, that they have a litigation friend to act on their behalf in making any claim for compensation.  This is because we consider that the longer you take to make the claim, the less fresh the events are in your mind; there is a greater likelihood that evidence will be lost or witnesses will be either untraceable or less reliable.

What is a litigation friend?
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If your child has been involved in an accident that was not their fault and have sustained injuries as a result, just like an adult, they are able to obtain compensation for their injuries.  The difference is that they will need a ‘Litigation Friend’ to conduct the case on their behalf.

As I am sure you would agree, most children under the age of 18 would not be capable of bringing a claim for compensation themselves; this is particularly true if they are just three or four years old.  But this does not mean that if they have been injured they cannot be compensated.  Instead, a ‘litigation Friend’ – in other words, a responsible adult with the child’s best interests at heart – can bring their claim for compensation for them. 

Typically a litigation friend will be a child’s parent or guardian, but equally could be a social worker or some other trustworthy adult who has no conflict of interest with the case.
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Children are involved in accidents every day; whether at school, in the playground, or at home. Quite often this is simply a pure accident that is no one’s fault. However, children can be the victims of other people’s careless behaviour, just the same as adults.

Young people suffer injuries in pretty much the same sort of circumstances that adults do, whether it is as a passenger in a car, tripping or slipping in a public place or because of a faulty product.

Children are more vulnerable than adults and this means that people in situations involving children have to take extra care to ensure that they do not cause harm to children because of their carelessness.  It also means that children can claim compensation in situations where adults could not; for example if a child has an accident because they were not being supervised properly.
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A common question for us at The Injury Lawyers relates to the process for children bringing claims for compensation.  What can you do if your child has been injured in an accident? How can your child make a claim for compensation? After all, they may be 3 years old and would obviously be unable to make a claim themselves!  If it was you who had been injured, then you would be able to give an injury lawyer a call and get the ball rolling on your potential claim for compensation.  However, if it is your child that has been injured, they can still make a claim for compensation – they just need a litigation friend to represent them.

What is a litigation friend?

A litigation friend is a responsible adult, most likely to be a child’s parent or guardian, but could at the same time be a family friend or care worker, or any other trustworthy adult with the child’s best interests at heart, who will act for and on behalf of the injured child.
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It’s always sad to hear of instances where people are seriously hurt in accidents or incidents that were not their fault; and even more so when the victims are infants or children. But what’s nice to hear is when justice is finally served, and the victims of negligence receive the payouts they duly deserve!

So in a combination of the above, does anyone recall the Maclaren buggy cases? We at The Injury Lawyers have actually authored a few blogs on this story, and we are pleased to report that according to sources from Sky News, UK victims of the defective pram – that caused the infant users to sustain serious lacerations, fractures and in some cases complete amputation at the end of the finger – from the dangerously exposed hinges of the fold up push chair will receive compensation for their suffering!
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