Navigating Child Injury Cases: Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

08/20/24 • 15 min

Summary

In this episode, Zinda Law Group CEO and founder, Jack Zinda talks about common child injury case mistakes and how to avoid them.

Discussed in this Episode:

You cannot treat a child case like an adult case
Creating a case on behalf of a child
Who has the right to pursue the claim?
Best practices for money distribution

You Cannot Treat a Child Case like an Adult Case

There are a few key things that make a child case different. Their recovery, damages, who can bring the claim on their behalf, levels of approval and money allocation are all different from an adult case. It can be very easy to make mistakes which can affect your client’s long-term recovery and future.

Creating a Case on Behalf of a Child

In the situation where a parent dies and leaves a child with no support, it’s very important to establish a Guardian Ad Litum to protect the child from other family members who may want to claim their rights as a guardian only due to the financial implications.

Who has the Right to Pursue the Claim?

Just because a person claims to be a parent or guardian does not mean that it’s true. It’s important that you do the initial leg work to prove that the person does have the legal right to bring the claim on behalf of the child. Do not take your client’s word for it when they talk about personal matters including adoption or divorce.

Best Practices for Money Distribution

Unless it’s a very unique case, the court will not allow you to give the money to the parents. Instead, it’s much more common to put the money into a structured settlement, the registry of the court (although the interest rate is much too low for a long-term payout) or into a trust.

You can reach Jack at:

[email protected]

512-246-2224

Summary

In this episode, Zinda Law Group CEO and founder, Jack Zinda talks about common child injury case mistakes and how to avoid them.

Discussed in this Episode:

You cannot treat a child case like an adult case
Creating a case on behalf of a child
Who has the right to pursue the claim?
Best practices for money distribution

You Cannot Treat a Child Case like an Adult Case

Creating a Case on Behalf of a Child

Who has the Right to Pursue the Claim?

Best Practices for Money Distribution

You can reach Jack at:

[email protected]

512-246-2224

Previous Episode

Handling Accidental Shooting Cases: Essential Tips and Tactics

Summary

In this episode, Zinda Law Group CEO and founder Jack Zinda discusses essential tips and tactics for handling accidental shooting cases.

Discussed in this Episode:

What qualifies as an accidental shooting?
Who’s going to pay?
How to approach these cases
Proving your case

What Qualifies as an Accidental Shooting?

As the name suggests, an accidental shooting is one where there was no intent to harm an individual. We are looking for a negligent act or someone putting their firearm in a place where it could be used for a negligent act.

Who’s Going to Pay?

Homeowners' or renters' insurance is usually where we go when attempting to award damages. As stated above, the person or persons liable may not have been directly involved in the shooting, but if they are found liable, their insurance would be used for damages.

How to Approach These Cases

Do not make your case about whether or not guns should or shouldn’t be available to the public. Start from a place of proper gun safety which will be much more agreeable to a jury that may own and use guns. Even NRA policies and gun experts can be used to prove your case.

Proving Your Case

Proving intent is crucial to the success of your case. This includes eyewitness testimony, ring camera or other camera footage, and even a liability expert. Background information on the defendant will also be important as a clean criminal record and credible character witnesses can further prove your claim that the incident was accidental.

You can reach Jack at:

[email protected]

512-246-2224

Next Episode

The Art of Time Management: Tips and Tools To Master Efficiency For Your Law Firm

Summary

In this episode, Zinda Law Group CEO and founder, Jack Zinda answers questions from the listeners about tips and tools to improve efficiency and time management.

Discussed in this Episode:

How to structure your day for maximize productivity
The biggest time management challenge as a Lawyer & CEO
Finding your priorities
Technology tools for time management

How to Structure Your Day for Maximum Productivity

Jack talks about what his days used to look like before reading the book Getting Things Done. He talks about how scheduling specific tasks to be completed during specific times is a great way to ensure that you’re not scatterbrained or scrambling to stay on top of your to-do list during the day.

The Biggest Time Management Challenge as a Lawyer & CEO

The hardest transition can be when you jump from a small to mid-sized firm. Jack talks about how things changed when they went from a five person to a twenty person team. Having good management and training systems in place are the best way to ensure smooth transitions as the business grows.

Finding Your Priorities

Next is to look at your own personal responsibilities. Lay them out on a white board and be sure to include your personal life as well. Being a good partner and parent comes along with a work/life balance. Find things that you can delegate to other members of your team and restrict yourself to working on the things that only YOU can do.

Technology Tools for Time Management

Jack talks about how technology can sometimes be a red herring as these tools can end up causing more headaches than not. Relying on A.I. can prove problematic as the technology is not foolproof yet. He talks about tools that do work including: Asana for project management and Evernote for note taking.

You can reach Jack at:

[email protected]

512-246-2224