Children’s and Teenagers’ accident claims

Children and teenagers who suffer serious, permanent injuries can be left with lifelong disability which will affect their ability to learn, work, look after themselves and live independently. They may find it harder to walk or get around, to behave appropriately, or communicate clearly with others. They may find it more difficult to make friends, enjoy sport or leisure activities.

When the child or teenager’s injury was caused by an accident which was another person or organisation’s fault, they may be entitled to claim compensation. When a family contacts us after a devastating injury, we can begin to make a difference straight away. Our serious injury specialists can secure access to personalised treatment and rehabilitation to maximise recovery. We relieve financial hardship by obtaining early funding to pay for essential specialist equipment, therapies and care.

We understand the needs of families as they go through the heart-breaking process of coming to terms with their child’s injury. We use the claims process to ensure that the child receives their full entitlement to compensation, but we provide so much more by way of practical help and support along the way. Whether the injury arose in infancy, early childhood or teenage years, we help families meet their child’s immediate needs, whilst securing the highest compensation settlements to provide for their future.

Compensation claims for children with head injury, acquired brain injury (ABI) or other disabling injuries, such as spinal injury, amputation or blindness, need skilled handling by specialist solicitors if the child is to receive the compensation they deserve.

Why choose Boyes Turner’s serious injury lawyers for your child’s accident compensation claim?

For over 25 years Boyes Turner’s serious injury lawyers have helped severely injured clients and their families rebuild their lives.

Our personal injury lawyers:

are top-ranked for accident compensation claims by Chambers Directory and the Legal 500;
are members or accredited/recommended by:
- the Law Society’s Personal Injury Panel;
- APIL (Association of Personal Injury Lawyers) as brain injury specialists;
- Headway;
- SIA (Spinal Injuries Association);
- Major Trauma Group;
- Cycle Smart;
- Child Brain Injury Trust;
- UK Acquired Brain Injury Forum.

We achieve substantial, high-value compensation settlements for our clients, even in the most complex and challenging cases. We have obtained life-changing compensation for children and teenagers where evidence is missing, a defendant driver cannot be traced or the child’s own behaviour contributed to the cause of the accident.

We work with trusted experts and case managers to ensure that the child’s needs are met, including funded rehabilitation and treatment to maximise recovery, support for special educational needs, specialist equipment and home adaptations. Individually structured compensation awards ensure that the severely injured the child has lifelong financial and practical support. This brings peace of mind that provision has been made for ongoing care and therapies, or to ease the transition from school to higher education, the workplace and supported independence.

Previous Cases

£2 million compensation for a teenage client who had suffered a head injury when he was hit by a taxi after running into the road in the middle of the night. Our client had no memory of the accident and there were no witnesses but the taxi driver denied liability on the basis that he had no time to take evasive action. Despite the difficulties in this case, settlement was achieved, discounted by 58% to reflect our client’s contributory negligence, giving our client financial provision to meet his needs in the future.

£500,000 compensation for a teenage motorcyclist who suffered severe injuries to his leg and ankle and PTSD after the defendant driver’s car hit his leg whilst doing a U-turn in a line of traffic. Settlement was achieved with only a minor reduction for contributory negligence even though the defendant alleged that our client was overtaking dangerously and denied liability for the accident.

£550,000 compensation and more than £26,000 of rehabilitation for a teenager who was head-injured when he fell from the boot of a moving car driven by his friend. This activity, sometimes known as “car-surfing”, is extremely dangerous, but the driver was negligent in driving the car whilst our client was on its boot. Our client’s compensation settlement was discounted by 35% from the full compensation sum of £846,150 for his injuries, to reflect his own contributory negligence.

£650,000 compensation for a 13-year-old-boy who suffered a brain injury when hit by a car whilst rollerblading across an unlit dual carriageway. Settlement was achieved despite conflicting and unsupportive evidence in this extremely difficult, strongly contested case, on the basis that our client’s claim was discounted for contributory negligence by 60% from a full value figure of £1.6m.

£3 million compensation from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) for a boy who was left with a brain injury, learning disability, behavioural problems and blindness, after he was shaken by his father when he was a 13 week old baby.

What types of children’s accidents lead to compensation claims?

For injuries to children caused by medical negligence …contact our medical negligence team here.

A child or teenager may be entitled to substantial compensation if they suffered severe injury in an accident which was the fault of another individual or organisation.

Child and teenage compensation claims often arise from injuries caused by:

Accidents on the road, when they are:
- passengers in cars or other vehicles;
- passengers on public transport (such as, coaches, buses, taxis, trains);
- pedestrians;
- cyclists, or a passenger on a bicycle;
- motorcyclists, or pillion passengers;
- hit whilst on skateboards, roller-blades etc;
- injured in whole family or multiple victim accidents, (when family travelling together in one vehicle are all injured in the same accident);

Accidents at school, on school trips, at college or during child-care;
Accidents during supervised sport;
Accidents at leisure facilities, such as swimming pools, climbing walls, bouncy castles trampolines;
Accidents from unsafe buildings, paths or facilities in a public place;
Accidents abroad or on holiday;
Accidents caused by defective or unsafe products;
Violent crime.

What type of injuries to children can lead to compensation claims?

Our serious injury lawyers specialise in obtaining maximum compensation for clients who have suffered severe, permanent injury and disability. Our clients have usually suffered one or more of the following injuries:

head injury/skull fracture;
brain injury, neurological injury;
spinal cord injury, paralysis such as, paraplegia, tetraplegia;
major trauma or multiple injury;
multiple or severe orthopaedic injury (broken bones);
amputation;
facial or maxillofacial injury;
severe burns;
scarring and disfigurement;
sensory injury, such as blindness, deafness;
psychological injury;
psychological injury to parents as ‘secondary victims’ caused by witnessing their child’s fatal injury.

We recover compensation for severe psychological injury to ‘secondary victims’, usually a parent or other close family member, who witnessed their child’s death or severe injury.

We also recover compensation for bereaved children who have a financial claim for loss of dependency arising from their parent’s death in an accident.

What compensation can be claimed for a child after they were injured in an accident?

Depending on the type and severity of the child’s injury, their claim may include compensation for:

their pain and suffering and disability;
the cost of care – including additional care provided by their parents;
case management;
additional costs of suitable accommodation;
specialist equipment and aids;
prosthetic limbs;
therapies, such as:

occupational therapy (OT);
physiotherapy;
speech and language therapy (SALT);
hydrotherapy;
psychological counselling;

medical costs;
rehabilitation;
transport costs;
special education;
assistive technology;
future loss of earnings and pension;
Court of Protection costs;
other expenses incurred by the family arising directly from their child’s injury.

Where a bereaved child’s claim arises from the death of a parent, they may be entitled to compensation for their loss of dependency on their parent’s income or ‘services’ (such as childcare).

Compensation claims can help support disabled children with key transitions or new life stages:

Moving from acute hospital care to rehabilitation;
Starting education for the young child;
Moving schools;
Increased need for independence and educational support as teenagers;
Moving from school to further education;
Moving from parents’ home to independent or supported living;
When parents can no longer manage the child’s needs – physically or financially;
Moving into the workplace;

Can my child still claim if their accident was caused by family member or friend?

It can be very difficult to come to terms with a child’s injury which happens in our care or that of another family member or friend. We approach these cases with compassion, and focus on obtaining the child’s entitlement to compensation, working with parents to meet the injured child’s needs.

Our experienced and professional lawyers have helped clients where:

the child was injured in a road traffic accident whilst a passenger in the (grand)parent’s car:
the child was injured whilst being carried on the back of a family member’s bike;
the child was injured in a cycling accident but was not wearing a helmet;
the child was brain-injured from being shaken whilst in someone else’s care;
the teenager was injured whilst car-surfing or risk-taking in or on a friend’s vehicle;
the child was a pedestrian hit by a family or friend’s car, such as on a driveway at home;
the child was injured as a result of unsafe paths or buildings at a friend or family member’s home.

When a child is seriously injured, their rehabilitation, recovery and provision for any lifelong needs caused by their injury should take priority over concerns about the discomfort of bringing a claim against the family member or friend. In our experience of these cases, most families recognise the importance of doing what’s right for the child to ensure that their needs are met.

Our compassionate lawyers are experienced in handling emotionally sensitive claims. We explore all possible causes for an accident or injury to find the best way forward for the claim. The defendant’s insurance company usually handles the claim and takes financial responsibility for paying the child’s compensation. We act for the child and their best interests but do so with sensitivity to the overall situation. We remain focussed on getting the child the help that they need from the defendant’s insurers, whilst supporting the family through what can be a very difficult time.

Can my child still claim if they were partly to blame for their accident?

If the main cause of the accident was somebody else’s negligence, in most cases, we can still recover compensation for the child or teenager’s serious injuries, even if their own actions made them partly to blame. Where our client’s actions or behaviour contributed to the cause of the accident, or increased their injury, their compensation may be ‘discounted’ by a percentage, to reflect their ‘contributory negligence’. In cases of severe injury, such as brain injury or permanent disability, even a discounted sum of compensation can be a lifeline to essential help with meeting the child’s needs for therapies, specialist equipment and care.

Our personal injury team have recovered substantial compensation for severely injured children and teenagers even where the defendant’s insurers argued that their own actions contributed to the accident or injury. These include:

failing to wear a cycle helmet or protective clothing;

crossing the road without looking properly or waiting for the traffic lights;
injuries whilst trespassing;
car surfing or foolish behaviour.

We always recommend that families of a severely injured child or teenager contact us for advice before making their own decision about whether or not their child is likely to succeed with a compensation claim.

You can read more about contributory negligence here.

Who makes decisions in a compensation claim for an injured child?

Litigation friend

Children and young people under the age of 18 are not legally able to make their own decisions in an injury compensation claim. Their claim must be made with the help of a ‘litigation friend’. In most, but not all, cases this will be the child’s parent.

As the child’s solicitors, the child is our client and we act in their best interests. The litigation friend is our point of contact who gives us instructions and takes our advice on behalf of the child. Where our client is an older teenager, we may include them in discussions and take their views into account where they want to be involved.

Litigation friends must also act in the child’s best interests but they do not make decisions alone. We always provide litigation friends with benefit of our experienced, expert lawyers’ advice.

Court approval for settlements

The court’s approval is needed for any compensation settlements involving a child. This applies whether the compensation is for the child’s own injury or for their loss of dependency arising from the death of a parent. Court approval usually takes place at a short hearing, during which the legal representatives for both sides are called upon by the court to justify that the child’s agreed settlement is fair, given the full circumstances of the case.

Court of Protection deputyship

A child’s compensation settlement must be paid into court to be invested on their behalf until they are 18. Where the child is unlikely to have mental capacity when they reach the age of 18, their compensation must be protected by a Court of Protection deputy. This provides reassurance that a young person will not be influenced by others to make unwise decisions about the use of their money which is intended to provide for their future needs.

Our deputyship lawyers ensure that our clients’ money is protected and managed as required by law but is accessible to our clients as necessary to meet their needs.