When You Need An Infant Injury Lawyer in Vancouver – Call 604-318-3838

Hiring the services of an infant injury lawyer in Vancouver can be a stressful experience as infant personal injury claims are far and away the most tragic types of cases that our firm deals with as the injuries can be permanent often leaving the injured infant emotionally and physically scarred and other family members devastated.

Our Vancouver infant injury and child accident injury lawyer at Butler & Company can help you.

Introduction:

In British Columbia a person is considered a minor (or infant) until they reach the age of majority which is 19 years of age.  This age defined by the law called the “Age of Majority Act”:

When children (minors/infants) are injured, in motor vehicle accidents though the claims are handling similarly to adult claims but there are different factors at play and different procedures that must be followed which will most often require the services of a lawyer who is well versed in this unique area of law.  The different factors include factors that relate to limitation periods, liability, damages and the process for approval of child or infant settlements.

Limitation periods in child injury cases and ICBC child injury cases:
In most car accident injury cases involving adults (those over 19 years of age) that occur in British Columbia, with some exceptions (ie. accidents where the Crown authority may be involved) the standard limitation period for commencing a claim will be 2 years from the date of the accident (See www.bclaws.ca).  The law in B.C. recognizes special status for Infant Claims by extending that limitation period, with some exceptions, until 2 years past the child’s 19th birthday.  (The exceptions involve where the party at fault or their agent insured serve a document called a “Notice of Intention to Proceed” which could shorten the limitation period tremendously).  In any event children, therefore, usually have a longer period in which to commence legal action and seek judicial recourse for their injuries (see section 6 of the Age of Majority Act above).  This is a good thing as most often child accident injury cases take longer to find their ways into the court owing to the fact that the extent of the injuries caused to children in motor vehicle accident are often difficult to determine.

Liability in child accident:

When a young child is injured in an accident (given the minimum age to be a licensed driver in B.C. is 16 years of age) most often the child is not at fault.  Issues relating to fault or liability are often unique.  For instance a parent driver who has failed to properly install a properly functioning and approved car seat in the vehicle or who has failed to properly secure a child in same can be held partially or totally at fault for injuries caused to the child in an MVA even though that parent driver may not have even caused the MVA to begin with.   Also the manufacturer or distributor of a child car seat can be accountable at law for damages if it is shown that the car seat was defective.  These issues must be investigated and addressed at the early stages of an accident.

Difficulty in determining precise damages in child accidents:

When children are severely injured in a motor vehicle accident, owing to the fact that they have greater “life expectancy”  often times the damages can be enormous and way beyond the policy limits of the insured drivers.  Though the damages are LARGELY assessed in the same manner as adult claims because the extent of the injuries can be difficult to medically diagnose or provide firm medical prognoses for (largely because young children can be non-verbal and thus their injuries can go unnoticed or undiagnosed and they can “bounce back” from injuries owing to their age and ongoing developmental processes) the factors relating to quantification of claims are increased.  For instance, one of the major categories of damages which are often at play in motor vehicle accident injury cases involve the future earning capacity of the victim.  Where a young child is a victim in an accident and suffers a permanent disability (physical or psychological)  it is often very difficult to determine how that permanent disability would have affected that child in the future.

Different kinds of “damages” can also be at play.  For instance in cases of severe injuries of the children often the parents are called upon to provide additional care and support for their child that they would not, in the regular course, have had to provide.  A parent may, for instance, be forced to quit their good paying job in order to care for their child who has been severely injured in a motor vehicle accident.  This can lead to “in trust claims” being made to account for the type and degree of care which goes beyond that provided pursuant to one’s natural love and affection for a loved one, often an injured child.  Courts have often made “in trust” to the child to account for this type of care provided by their care-giving parent in these such exceptional cases.

In all cases and especially those where the “at fault party’s” insurance policies are limited you will need the help of an experienced child accident injury lawyer to help you quantify these claims in order to maxim the benefits available to the child as they grow older.

Latent effect of children injures in accident:

In injury cases involving adult in British Columbia the victim of the accident can often receive a quick settlement for their minor injuries.  This is definitely NOT the case in child accident injuries.  Where children have been injured in a motor vehicle accident quite often their injuries are latent in that they develop over time.  Parents and guardians are left to manage the children’s medical needs.  Once there has been a firm diagnosis and prognosis by the qualified medical professionals involved in the care it may be wise for parents/guardians to simply wait out the injuries to check how they develop.  As infant settlements are deemed to be the money belonging to the infant and not released to the injured child until the child’s 19th birthday there is good reason NOT to attempt to resolve infant injuries too early in the process.   Lawyers who specialize in child accident injuries quite often will carry the files of infants for years, in some cases for more than 10 or 15 years before the cases are resolved.  You can trust the experienced child accident injury lawyer at Butler & Company to know when the infant’s case is “ripe” for resolution and maximize the infant’s settlement or trial award accordingly.

Infant’s hiring lawyers:

Except under special exceptions and circumstances infants cannot hire lawyers for their injuries but their parents or guardians can.   This can pose unique difficulties in contracting for lawyers for their services.  Sometimes the child’s parent is not the right person to hire and/or give instructions to the lawyer.  This occurs when the parent is partly at fault for the accident.  In such cases ICBC will often make it difficult for the injured child’s chosen lawyer to speak with the parents of the injured child claiming a professional conflict of interest (as ICBC will often be representing the “at fault” parent).   This can pose difficulties for the engagement of a qualified lawyer for the infant but these difficulties are not insurmountable.   For details concerning the contracting of lawyers in general see the provisions of the Infants Act which governs this process.

At Butler & Company we can explain the whole process of hiring a lawyer for the infant to you and ensure that your child’s immediate and future needs will be met.

Approval of child injury accident settlements:

The approval process for child accident injury settlements are completely different than those who are adults.  A child/minor cannot simply enter a settlement with ICBC regarding their injury claim and then thereafter expect a settlement funds to be forthcoming.  The process for children in injury cases is different because all of these settlements, in one form or another, involve a third party:  “The Office of the Public Trustee of British Columbia” and sometimes even COURT approval.

All infant settlements are the property of the infant/child who was injured in the accident.  As such the injured child is the one with the direct interest in the amounts received.  The Office of the Public Trustee always has to approve or oversee all such infant settlements before any funds will be paid by ICBC.  And when such infant settlements are approved they are only paid out to the child on their 19th birthday.  Parents are sometimes under the misconception that it is indeed they who are the beneficiaries of the settlement or court award.  Though there are provisions in place to ensure that the parents can access settlement or court awards in unique circumstances (which can be explained to you by our lawyer at Butler & Company) the Office of the Public Trustee in B.C. is the party who not only has a hand in determining whether (and indeed the amount of) the proceeds can be disseminated to parents and guardians of an injured child.

As indicated the Office of the Public Trustee in B.C. will always be involved in the approval process for child settlements.  The extent of their involvement will be determined by the type of injuries to the child and the amount of the settlement and other issues.  In brief the law in British Columbia regarding infant settlements suggests that any settlement that is made between the injured child’s lawyer and ICBC or any insured for that matter must meet the strict approval standard of the Office of the Public Trustee in B.C.   Your infant settlement lawyer must make written submissions to the Office of the Public Trustee in B.C. and include any necessary medical (and other) materials along with an application fee.  The Office of the Public Trustee in B.C. thereafter will provide their approval comments or directions to the lawyer.   When the settlement for the child injury award is less than $50,000 the approval process is simpler than those where the award will be over $50,000 as there are certain additional procedural court requirements that are necessary in cases where the amounts of the settlement will be over $50,000.   In cases where the Office of the Public Trustee in B.C. contests a proposed settlement a party must sometimes seek a Court Order to have the settlement approved.  Though the Office of the Public Trustee in B.C. is there to help oversee the settlement process and grant approval where they deem it is necessary, often times they can act more as a hindrance to the settlement process as they had yet another lawyer of “red tape” and complications to the infant injury settlement process.

For a complete guide to determine the extent of the involvement of the Office of the Public Trustee in B.C. in the Child settlement process.

Our experienced and child accident injury lawyer:

Jamie Butler is an experienced Vancouver based injury lawyer who has acted as counsel in cases in child injury accident cases where injuries claimed range from minor whiplash to serious brain injuries and even criminal matters.  Throughout his legal career he has personally conducted close to 1000 trials as lead counsel.   That means he knows the inside and outside of a courtroom.  He has had plenty of success INSIDE the courthouse for his clients and that means that the insurance companies should all be aware that it would be best to deal with his injured clients by offering fair settlements t0 them OUTSIDE the courtroom without matters actually proceeding to trial.  It is often said that the best defence is a great offence!  Our child accident injury lawyer, Jamie Butler, is that great offence.  He will work hard for your child to obtain the best result outside of court but if push comes to shove he will be there to present your child’s case in the best possible light inside a courtroom to a judge or jury.

What we do for you from beginning to end:

Remember Jamie Butler can help you every step of the way.  In order to maximize your compensation entitlement and leave no stone unturned he will:

1. Meet with you and your injured child after the mva at a place convenient to you – YES he does hospital visits or home visits;
2. Have an interpreter available for you to speak with him in your native tongue;
3. Hire accident scene investigators to take photos and witness statements regarding the mva;
4. Where necessary, hire reconstruction engineers who obtain accident data from the police and accident scene to present in court (for example:  watch this video about reconstruction engineers);
5. Contact the insurance companies and deal with their representatives for your child;
6. Obtain and submit the appropriate documents to commence and prosecute your claim;
7. Help you organize your medical recovery by guiding you and your child in your choice of treating medical professionals and obtaining funding from ICBC for medical treatment;
8. Obtain and schedule referrals for medical assessments with renown medical experts who can testify for your child in court if necessary;
9. Arrange all other necessary experts (including medical and actuarial experts) to present evidence in court;
10. Commence your legal action and prosecute it fully using the most advanced and high tech means possible;
11. Help you prepare for all legal steps including examination for discoveries, mediations and/or trials;
12. Conduct all mediations, trials or settlement negotiations;
13. Bring your child’s claim to a successful conclusion usually by settlement but by trial if absolutely necessary;
14. Help with any post-trial issues you and your child may have including arranging experts who are versed in structure settlements in order to deal with post-trial settlement in the best financial manner possible for you.

Call us at 604-318-3838 (24 hours and 7 days a week) and we can arrange a FREE LEGAL CONSULTATION regarding your child accident injuries.   We also offer a FREE LEGAL EVALUATION of your child’s ICBC injury case by your sending us a brief written description of your child injury accident by CLICKING HERE.