Can You Sue a Minor Child for Personal Injuries?

It may seem like a silly thing to ask, but the question of whether or not you can sue a minor for injuries, is a real one. After all, minors include teenagers and preteenagers–ages of children who are big enough and old enough and more than able to cause injuries to others if they are careless or negligent.

Are They Even Negligent?

The first hurdle in suing a minor for causing you injuries, is simply proof.

With an adult, to see if the adult was negligent, we ask whether that adult acted the way a reasonable and careful person would have acted in the same circumstances.

But that’s a difficult, if not impossible question to ask of a child, because children grow and mature at different rates; there is no “standard” or “normal” minor, because one 15-year old may be mature and wise beyond his years while another may be very immature and underdeveloped.

That makes showing that a minor acted in a careless way, a difficult hurdle. Of course the older the child is, the easier that is to show because older children tend to be more mature, and start to conform with one another, developmentally.

Minors Can be Sued

If you can show liability, you can sue a minor, but you would usually be suing the parent, as the “next friend” or guardian of the minor. That’s because while a minor can be sued, the minor cannot appear in court on his or her own; a parent or guardian must be the “stand in” for the minor.

However, be aware that unless you sue the adult parent, a judgment obtained against the minor, will not automatically allow you to collect that judgment against the parent’s assets. You must have an independent judgment against the parent to do that.

Suing the Parent for What the Child Did

There are times when you can sue the parent, directly, for injuries caused by a minor.

One such avenue is through negligent entrustment; that is, that the minor injured you with an item (say, a car or a golf cart or machinery), that the child should not have had or been able to access or use, and that it is the fault of the parent.

Another common theory is through negligent supervision. This is saying that the adult had the obligation to monitor and supervise the child, but did not, and because of that lack of supervision the child was able to cause you an injury.

Practical Considerations

Suing parents for negligent acts of their children  is often preferable for other more practical reasons as well.

Parents may have insurance coverage for their actions or omissions, whereas a minor may not. Although not ideal, if you wanted to, say, garnish the wages of an adult parent to satisfy a judgment entered against them, or seize their bank accounts, you can do that. But a minor has no wages and no bank account.

Call our Boston personal injury lawyers at The Law Office of Joseph Linnehan, Jr. today at 617-275-4200 if you’ve been injured by the negligent or careless acts of a child, teenager or minor.

Source:

findlaw.com/litigation/filing-a-lawsuit/8-reasons-you-can-legitimately-sue-a-minor-and-win.html#:~:text=Yes%2C%20you%20can%20bring%20a,them%20through%20their%20legal%20representative.