As parents, we all know that there is always a risk in sending or even accompanying your children trick-or-treating so before you head out “trick-or-treating” with your children, it would be to your advantage to know what kind of legal protections you have if you or your child are involved in an accident.
Here are a few scenarios to keep in mind and to help better understand how Texas personal injury laws can protect you and your child on Halloween:
Nightmare Scenario 1: While approaching the front porch of a home with a candy bowl left out for “trick or treaters,” a scary witch decoration pops up out of nowhere, startling your child causing them to trip, fall and injure themselves.
In this scenario, you could bring a personal injury claim against the homeowner to potentially receive compensation for your child’s injuries and to pay for their medical expenses. Cases like these fall under what are called premises liability laws, which are in place to help determine who is at fault in the event of an injury on someone’s premises or property.
Nightmare Scenario 2: After ringing the doorbell of a home with your child, the owner opens the door when suddenly the owner’s dog rushes out from inside the home and bites your child.
Not a lot of people know this, but premises liability laws and many homeowners’ policies cover dog bites as well as injuries from any pets to invitees of the home. So yes, you would definitely be within your rights to hire a personal injury lawyer and able to bring a personal injury claim and seek compensation for your injured child.
Nightmare Scenario 3: Shortly after arriving home, your child begins eating the candy they received when suddenly, your child screams in pain as one of the candies they were eating had a razor blade inside. After your child is hospitalized, police are able to track the person who gave your child the candy and subsequently arrest them.
As far as a personal injury claim goes, unfortunately, the criminal aspect of the situation would supersede any civil claim that would be brought against the person, however, it is not out of the realm of possibility. The families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman famously filed wrongful death lawsuits against OJ Simpson after Simpson was found not guilty of their murders. A jury held that OJ Simpson was liable for their deaths and awarded their respective estates $25 million in punitive damages.
So again, although it is unlikely that you would be able to bring a personal injury claim in this scenario, it is possible.
Nightmare Scenario 4: You and your child are walking around a subdivision with a small street, going “trick or treating” door to door. While crossing the street, a car suddenly hits you or your child.
Now, most people would think that there wouldn’t be a personal injury claim here since you or your child were jaywalking when this happened, however, judges and juries will always take the totality of the circumstances involved in assigning liability. In many instances, they will even assign a percentage of how liable someone is to help determine compensation awards. In this case, being that it is Halloween, drivers are put on high alert that there will be people on foot walking about and to take extra caution while driving. Taking this into consideration, you would definitely be able to hire an experienced car accident injury lawyer to bring an injury claim against the driver for you or your child’s injuries.
Click Here to Read More -> Personal injury lawyer
Injured on Halloween? Contact The Injury Lawyers At Moore Law Firm Today!
Were you or your child injured while out trick or treating on Halloween? Call the McAllen personal injury lawyers at Moore Law Firm for a FREE and FAST consultation at 1-956-631-0745 today!