Florida Child Injury Accident Lawyer

A child's injury turns a family's world upside down — the fear, the hospital visits, the bills, and the worry about what comes next. Kaiser Romanello, P.A. handles Florida child injury claims with care and diligence, so parents can focus on their child's recovery while we handle the insurance company, the evidence, and the law. This page explains how these claims actually work in Florida.

How Florida Law Treats a Child's Injury Claim

A child cannot file a lawsuit or sign a settlement on their own. Florida law recognizes that minors need extra protection, so it places special rules around who may act for the child, how a settlement is approved, and how the recovered money is held. These safeguards exist to make sure the compensation is actually there for the child — for future medical care, therapy, and support — rather than spent before they reach adulthood.

The underlying negligence law is the same as any Florida injury case: someone who caused the harm (a property owner, a driver, a daycare, a product manufacturer) can be held responsible for the losses they caused. What changes in a child's case is the layer of guardianship and court oversight that Florida adds to the claim.

Who Can Bring a Claim for an Injured Child

In Florida, a child's injury claim is brought by the child's natural guardian — typically a parent — or by a court-appointed legal guardian (Fla. Stat. §744.301). The parent acts as the child's representative throughout the case.

A child's injury often creates two related claims:

• The child's claim — for the child's own pain, suffering, permanent injury, and future medical needs.
• The parents' claim — for the medical bills the parents are legally responsible to pay and, in some cases, other losses tied to caring for the injured child.

Keeping these claims properly separated matters, because they can be valued and resolved differently. Handling that structure is part of what an attorney does from the start of the case.

Court Approval of a Child's Settlement (§744)

This is the biggest difference between a child's case and an adult's. Florida does not let a settlement for a minor happen quietly between a parent and an insurer once the numbers get meaningful.

The practical takeaway for parents: a quick insurance check offered directly to you may not be something you can simply accept if it involves a real injury. Court approval protects your child, but it also has to be done correctly. We handle the petition, the guardianship steps, and the approval hearing so the settlement holds up and the money is secured for your child's future.

The Deadline to File a Child Injury Claim

Evidence also disappears quickly — surveillance video from a store or daycare is often overwritten within days or weeks, and physical conditions get repaired or cleaned up. The sooner the scene and records are preserved, the stronger the claim.

Common Causes of Child Injuries in Florida

Children are hurt in situations that rarely injure adults the same way, and Florida's climate and communities create specific risks:

• Swimming pool and drowning incidents. Florida's Residential Swimming Pool Safety Act (Fla. Stat. §515) requires barriers and safety features. An unfenced or unsecured pool can make an owner responsible when a child is hurt. See our Florida swimming pool accident page.
• Attractive nuisances. Pools, trampolines, construction sites, and abandoned structures draw curious children. Florida's attractive-nuisance doctrine can hold an owner responsible for failing to secure a known hazard, even for a child who wandered onto the property.
• Playground and school/daycare negligence. Faulty equipment, poor maintenance, or inadequate supervision can support a negligent-supervision or premises claim. See our premises liability practice.
• Dog bites. Florida imposes strict liability on dog owners under Fla. Stat. §767.04 — an owner can be responsible even without a prior history of biting.
• Motor vehicle crashes. Children are especially vulnerable as passengers, pedestrians, and cyclists. See our car accident practice.
• Defective products and toys. Unsafe design, missing warnings, or manufacturing defects can make a manufacturer or seller responsible.
• Catastrophic injuries. Some incidents cause brain or spinal injuries with lifelong effects — see our traumatic brain injury practice.

Insurance and Sources of Recovery

A strong outcome usually depends on finding every insurance policy that applies. In a child's case, those can include:

• The at-fault party's liability coverage — a homeowner's, business, auto, or commercial policy, depending on how the injury happened.
• PIP (Personal Injury Protection). A child injured as a passenger or pedestrian is generally covered by the household's auto PIP for early medical bills, regardless of fault — see our Florida PIP 14-day rule explainer.
• Uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM) coverage when a vehicle is involved and the at-fault driver has little or no insurance.
• A business or institution's policy — a daycare, camp, school, or product manufacturer may carry substantial commercial coverage.
• Government liability for injuries tied to a public school or public property, subject to the sovereign-immunity caps and notice requirements of Fla. Stat. §768.28.

Comparative Negligence and Children

Florida now follows a modified comparative negligence rule with a 50% bar under HB 837 (Fla. Stat. §768.81): a person found more than 50% at fault recovers nothing, and a recovery is otherwise reduced by the injured person's share of fault. Insurers routinely try to shift blame onto the injured party to lower what they pay.

Children, however, are treated differently. Florida law generally presumes a very young child is incapable of negligence, and older children are judged by what a child of similar age, intelligence, and experience would do — not by an adult standard. That distinction is important, because it blunts the insurer's usual "your child should have known better" defense. Building and protecting that argument is a core part of a child injury case.

Compensation a Child Can Recover

Depending on the case, recoverable losses can include:

• Medical expenses — emergency care, surgery, hospitalization, and rehabilitation
• Future medical care and therapy, including long-term treatment for a permanent injury
• Pain, suffering, and emotional distress
• Permanent disability, scarring, or disfigurement
• Loss of future earning capacity when an injury affects the child long-term
• The parents' out-of-pocket medical costs and related losses

Valuing a child's future needs takes care — an injury that seems to heal can still affect development, schooling, and earning ability years later. We work with medical and, when needed, life-care professionals to account for what a child will actually need over time.

What to Do After Your Child Is Injured

1. Get medical care right away, even if the injury looks minor — some serious injuries, including head injuries, are not obvious at first.
2. Report the incident to the property owner, daycare, school, or authorities, and ask for a written incident report.
3. Photograph everything — the hazard, the scene, equipment, and your child's injuries — and note the date and time.
4. Get witness names and contact information before people leave or forget.
5. Keep records — medical bills, discharge paperwork, and any communication from an insurer.
6. Do not give a recorded statement to the at-fault party's insurer, and do not accept a quick settlement, before speaking with an attorney.
7. Call a Florida child injury attorney early — evidence disappears and the 2-year deadline is shorter than most families expect.

How Kaiser Romanello Helps Your Family

Kaiser Romanello, P.A. has represented injured Floridians since 2002. In a child injury case, our job is to carry the legal weight so your family does not have to:

• We investigate thoroughly — incident reports, records, safety violations, and, when needed, outside professionals — to establish who is responsible.
• We identify every source of insurance coverage, from a homeowner's policy to a business or government policy.
• We structure the child's claim and the parents' claim correctly, and we handle the §744 guardianship and court-approval steps so the settlement is valid and the money is protected until your child is 18.
• We deal with the insurers directly, so you can focus on your child.

You pay nothing up front. We work on a contingency fee — no fee unless we win your case.

Frequently Asked Questions

By Lorne Kaiser & Steven Romanello, Kaiser Romanello, P.A. | Florida personal injury attorneys since 2002 | Last reviewed: September 2026. This page is general information, not legal advice; every case is different and outcomes vary. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.