Choosing The Right Daycare Injury Lawyer
It’s something no parent should ever have to face, but it happens all too often: While your young child is in the care of another person, they suffer an injury that should have been prevented. As a parent, you trust daycare facilities to provide your child with certain health and safety standards, and when they’re negligent about that responsibility, it can sometimes result in traumatizing injuries to your child.
The daycare facility or staff should be held responsible for their actions, but knowing where to turn for the right kind of help can be burdensome, especially when your first focus is on helping your child to recover. Starting with understanding what kind of qualities to look for in the right Missouri daycare injury lawyer can help to make the process a little easier.
Q: Why do I need a daycare injury lawyer specifically?
A: First, it’s important to understand that not every personal injury attorney is going to also be a good daycare injury attorney. Most daycares are governed by specific local or state laws, and many of them have more intricate setups and ownership responsibilities than most people initially realize. It takes a lawyer who knows how daycare injuries happen, local daycare laws, and the inner workings of how daycare facilities operate and are managed to make sure your child receives the care and attention they deserve.
Second, when it comes to navigating any sort of legal case, it’s true that you can take on the responsibility of doing so without a lawyer. But history has shown time and again that recruiting an attorney to help you navigate the process not only relieves your burden of stress, but can often result in a better outcome for you and your child.
Q: What kind of experience should a daycare injury attorney have?
A: Not only should the daycare injury lawyer you’re considering hiring have an ample number of similar cases in their history, but they should also have a record of winning such cases, or settling them for a fair value outside of court. You want an attorney who has shown they are unafraid to take your case to court if they have to, because then you’ll know they’re willing to go as far as it takes in your child’s case too.
It’s also important to make sure your potential attorney is familiar with the type of daycare facility your child attends, as well as how their injuries occurred and what the extent of those injuries is. If, for example, the lawyer you’re considering has a great track record with taking on small, private childcare facilities, but your child suffered injury at a larger facility owned by a higher corporation, then the lawyer may not have the knowledge needed to help you sufficiently. Or if the attorney in question has experience with cases of premises liability issues that caused the child harm, but your child’s injuries are the direct result of physical abuse, then they once again may not be the right lawyer for the job. Though every daycare injury case is unique, there are certain factors of negligence shared between similar cases that are important for your lawyer to have navigated successfully before.
Q: What other qualities are important to look for in a daycare injury lawyer?
A: You want a lawyer with a solid reputation in more ways than one. First, they should have a glowing reputation with past clients they’ve helped. You’ll want to explore client testimonials that vouch the lawyer was pleasant to work with while also getting the job done. That means your lawyer should also have a reputation with opposing counsel, insurance companies, or the daycare facility itself of being a commanding presence and formidable opposition. This can make the prospect of reaching a fair settlement more likely.
While reputation is great, you also want your attorney to rely on more than their name or intimidation tactics. This case is about the wellbeing of your child, and likely the wellbeing of all the other children who attend the same facility. Your lawyer should possess true qualities of care and compassion for kids. You can see if this exists by observing how passionate they are about what can be achieved by pursuing a lawsuit, how dedicated they are to understanding precisely what your child went through and how it’s affected them. This quality also shows directly in how they treat both you and your child, and even their own legal team.
Attentiveness to you and your child’s predicament is also key. Take into consideration how responsive their office is when you first contact them, and who in particular contacts you after you let them know about your situation. If you decide to move forward, note how quickly you were able to secure an appointment with the lawyer specifically. And when you’re in their office, does the lawyer give you their undivided attention, or are they distracted? If the latter, it’s likely they’ll treat your case the same way.
Q: How should a daycare injury attorney interact with my child?
A: You want an attorney who treats your child with kindness, respect, and empathy. A daycare injury attorney with the right background should understand how to interact with and connect with your child, because they have experience with doing so in the past—whether it’s been with their own children as a parent, or having interacted with other children in this capacity before. Preferably both! Your daycare injury lawyer should never be dismissive of your child’s statements or point of view, even if they may be difficult to use to build the case. You want them to treat your child as the most important factor in this case, which they certainly are, but without overburdening them unduly.
But even more important to take into consideration is how your child interacts with your potential lawyer. They have recently gone through something traumatic, and depending on the extent of their injuries, your child may be unwilling to open up or give just anyone their trust. So if they seem to feel at ease with your potential lawyer, and are even comfortable enough to describe to them what happened and how their injuries are affecting their life, then that’s a great sign to take into consideration.
Q: Why are fees and payments important to consider when choosing my lawyer?
A: If a lawyer is serious about taking your case to court as needed, then that often means they’re confident in their ability to win. And when that’s the case, the lawyer’s last worry should be about charging you or sending you bills in order to continue representing you. The right lawyer will work on a contingency basis, meaning you owe them nothing unless they help you win or reach a fair settlement amount. They should also be willing to fund anything that arises as they make their way through their list of connections and resources that will help investigate your child’s accident and the people involved. This includes things like medical tests, accident or injury recreations, and any other necessary expenses. Find out more about contingency fees and how they work by visiting this page.
Q: What kinds of questions should I ask my potential daycare injury lawyer?
A: Here is a list of great questions to ask either when you first contact your lawyer or when you have your first official meeting or phone call with them:
- How strong do you think my child’s particular case is?
- What do you believe will be some of the challenges we’ll likely face during this case?
- Can you tell me about your experience with cases like this, as well as their outcomes?
- Have you ever worked on a case involving my child’s particular daycare facility?
- What specific knowledge do you have about this type of daycare accident that will be useful to my case?
- What would be your overall plan or tactic for representing my child and their unique scenario?
- Do you have reputable resources for helping to build my child’s case?
- What are your fees and costs?
If you suspect your child has suffered an injury or harmful neglect at their daycare facility, visit this page to learn more about how to determine what may have happened, and what to do in the immediate aftermath of the incident.