4 year old can be sued for negligence....

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   Stacie Lposted 13 years ago

   Many parents will be shocked to learn that a 4-year-old child can be sued for negligence in a bicycle accident. A Manhattan judge, Justice Paul Wooten of the State Supreme Court, permitted a lawsuit against a girl, Juliet Breitman, 4, that accidentally hit an elderly woman while racing her bicycle with training wheels on a Manhattan sidewalk two years ago.
   
   
   So how desperate does a lawyer have to be,to sue a 4-year old?
   
   
   http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.actio … 4978671665

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      John Holdenposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      But surely it's the family of the victim who are suing, not the lawyer. He's only representing.

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         Rafiniposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         ahem:  What lawyer would be willing to take a case involving a 4 year old defendant??

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            John Holdenposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            The common bloodsucking lawyer?
            
            But what court would decide that the action should be allowed?

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            John Holdenposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            In fact, what country would have a legal system that allowed such a thing?

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               Rafiniposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               We have to start with the lawyer  (obviously the family would want to seek 'revenge' or 'justice' or whatever they're claiming is the reason for suing a 4 year old)  and the lawyer took the case - why?? - and gave good arguments to the court for the case to be tried.  (that's all that was required to bring the case to court)
               
               Again, I ask, what lawyer would be willing to take a case involving a 4 year old defendant??

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                  John Holdenposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  What sort of family would want to profit from the accidental death of a relative?

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                     DoorMattnomoreposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                     I personally know someone who tried like crazy to profit from the death of someone.  Its a sad world.

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                     Rafiniposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                     Lawsuits aren't always for profit.

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   Lisa HWposted 13 years ago

   I don't find it all that shocking.  If it were my mother who was robbed of the last three years of her life because some idiots didn't know enough to stop their out-of-control kindergarten kids from racing their bikes were someone may come along, I'd sue too.  Besides, no matter who says what about the death and the injury, it is known that when elderly people get a hip injury it is often the point where other health things get started as a result of their not being able to move.
   
   If nothing else, the lawsuit will call attention to what can happen and maybe make a few people think a little more about where they have their kids on bikes, or whether they let them race them.  Common sense tells people who have common sense that kids that age "forget" a lot of rules about safety and being careful of others when two or more of them get together and get all "hyped up".
   
   Maybe the lawyer doing the suing knows if s/he sues the kid, herself, the next judge will then throw out the case, based on the fact that the kid can't be held responsible.  From there, I don't know enough about how it would work as far as whether a new lawsuit against the mother of the kid could be filed.
   
   If the mothers weren't there chances are nobody could be held responsible, but they were there and seeing what was going on.  I think the mother of this kid is going to pay in either sweat and worry or else money.
   
   Having had my own mother's death caused (or at least contributed to) by strangers, and as someone who has seen strangers knowingly harm (not physically) by kids; I know that one of the most difficult things to live with is not getting that day in court and not having the people responsible for the harm being held accountable and made to own up. 
   
   If nothing else, the family of the that elderly lady deserves the kind of "peace" and "resolution" someone can get just by getting that day in court and having the "wrong" acknowledged and given some degree of weight.  They're living with having their mother in pain and hurt in the last three years of her life, and there's even that chance the accident indirectly caused her decline.  They need that day in court.  I don't think it's about their grief.  I think it's about what their mother went through, and what they had to watch her go through; and what she was robbed of because a couple of clowns were too stupid to tell their kids to stop racing in that particular location.  Maybe in the end, some judge will order the kid and/or mother into a bike safety program (or something like that).   

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      Rafiniposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I can see suing the parents, but not the 4 year old.
      
      Accidents are accidents, but negligence is negligence.

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   DoorMattnomoreposted 13 years ago

   "The family of the deceased woman is suing the children and their mothers"
   
   
   "anyone with young children realizes that a 4-year-old lacks the maturity and could not have foreseen the danger of riding a bicycle into an elderly woman."
   
   The parents should be held responsible. I have never been to Manhattan, but I am guessing the sidewalks are fairly full on a regular basis, and the moms could have guessed a collision would happen. I don't know of anybody who lets their kids race thru Wal-mart. Even if you didn't care at all about anyone else, wouldn't you be worried that your kid could get hurt running into something?

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      Lisa HWposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks most mothers know not to let their kids race where other people (or breakable things ) are.  Maybe, too, the law is that the little kid would have to be included in the lawsuit because it wasn't the mother who actually directly caused the harm.  Maybe the law requires something like "lumping together" minor kids with their parents but also wouldn't allow a lawsuit to happen at all if whoever directly caused the harm weren't being named because she's a child.   ???   I have a feeling that's how it probably may work.

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