When Your Child Is Hurt By Someone Else's Negligence

This page is for any parent or guardian whose child was injured because someone else didn't do what they should have. Maybe it was a backyard pool with a broken gate, a dog that had bitten before, a daycare that looked away for a minute too long, or a product that failed the way it was never built to fail. Whatever the cause, a child's case follows its own set of rules, and you don't have to learn them on your own.

Right after it happens, three things matter most. Get your child the medical care they need, and let the records be created the same day if you can. Hold on to everything: photos of where it happened, the names of anyone who saw it, the product itself if one was involved. And go easy on yourself about the legal side for now. You can call us when you're ready, even from the hospital waiting room, and we'll start protecting the evidence while you focus on your kid.

What sets a minor's claim apart is that the law treats children as people who can't protect their own interests yet. So a parent or guardian steps in to bring the case, the filing deadline can work differently, and a judge looks over any settlement before your child receives it. We'll cover each of those below, in plain language, the way we'd explain it to a friend.

A child can't sue on their own in Nevada, so a parent or legal guardian brings the claim for them, often appointed by the court as a guardian ad litem. That's a formal name for a simple idea: an adult stands in to make decisions for the child while the case is open. You don't have to have any of that arranged before you call. Setting it up is part of what we do.

The filing deadline is where a child's case really differs. Most Nevada injury claims have a two year limit under NRS 11.190. For a minor, that deadline can be paused while they're still under 18, so a child often has until around their 18th birthday plus the normal period to sue, under NRS 11.250. Don't treat that as a reason to wait, though. Witnesses move, footage records over, and a defective product gets tossed. The rules also differ for medical-malpractice and government claims, so if a public pool or a public school is involved, there may be a separate claim procedure the general rule doesn't cover.

The last piece is settlement approval. A settlement for an injured child isn't binding until a district court approves it through a verified petition, and the court can direct the money into a blocked account the child reaches as an adult, under NRS 41.200. It's a safeguard built for your child's benefit, and we handle the petition and the hearing so it doesn't become one more thing on your plate. For a fuller picture of how serious, lasting harm gets valued, see our catastrophic injury page.

The adjuster who calls after a child is hurt will sound kind, and that's by design. Their job is to close the file cheaply and early, before anyone knows how a growing child will be affected years from now. With kids, they reach for a few familiar moves, and each one has an answer.

They'll say a child heals fast and bounces back, so the injury isn't worth much. Sometimes that's true. Often it isn't, because a growth plate fracture or a head injury during the school years can play out slowly. They'll lean on the idea that a parent should have been watching, trying to shift blame onto you instead of the pool owner or product maker. Nevada uses modified comparative negligence under NRS 41.141, where a share of fault reduces the award and 51% or more bars it, so an adjuster will push as much blame onto a parent as you'll let them, because every point trims their bill. They may also dangle a quick check while your child is still in treatment, hoping you'll take it before the full picture is clear. Once a minor's release is signed and approved, it's usually final.

Our answer is to slow it down and build the record first: the medical opinions on how this injury affects a child specifically, the future care a doctor expects, and the evidence that the danger was preventable. Then we deal with the insurer from a position of facts, not pressure. If your child was hurt in a crash, our child car accident page covers how the auto side fits in.