Children’s Injuries

HB2452 is a bill that has cleared the House and is being considered by Arizona’s Senate. According to a recent news report by AZFamily.com, this new bill proposes important changes to child restraint laws. Current Arizona law allows for children 5 years of age or older to sit in an adult seat. The new bill under consideration could require parents to provide restraints or booster seats for children fewer than 4 feet 9 inches tall. This bill is the reaction to a number of recent studies, which suggest that children without proper restraints have an increased chance of suffering a serious head, spine and abdominal injuries.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has reported that the risk of a child fatality in a crash can be reduced by 71 percent when proper safety seats are used. Using a seatbelt with a booster seat can be 59 percent safer for children than just using a seatbelt. Serious injuries to children can also be prevented by using a child safety seat.

Despite every measure parents take to keep their children safe, Arizona child car accident  injuries are still common. If a negligent driver injures your child, you can hold the at-fault driver accountable for the crash by filing a personal injury claim. Depending on the circumstances, compensation may be available for medical expenses and cost of care and treatment.

The experienced Phoenix auto accident injury lawyers of the Breyer Law Offices P.C. handle all types of personal injury cases. If you or a loved one has been harmed in a crash, call our offices at 602-978-6400. We will provide you with a free consultation and comprehensive case evaluation.

The Office of Defects Investigation, a part of the National Highway Traffic Safety (NHTSA), this morning announced Evenflo Company, Inc.’s voluntary recall of their Maestro Combination Booster Seats. The child restraint systems are being recalled due to results from laboratory tests conducted in late September. In high-impact, frontal vehicle collisions, a crack occurred in some seats, preventing sufficient restraint of the child within the seat, increasing the potential of injury. The company has not received reports of injury or the crack occurring in the field.

The recall affects Maestro products built from November of 2009 through April of this year with model numbers starting with 310. In the United States, this amounts for 13,792 seats; in Canada, 4,479 seats.

Upon this announcement, stores were asked to immediately remove the defective Maestro products from their shelves. Evenflo will be providing consumers of the Maestro Combination Booster Seats affected by the recall a free reinforcement kit. The kit contains easy to follow instructions and a bracket to reinforce the seat.

Evenflo advises consumers not to use the seat with children weighing under 40 pounds without the reinforced bracket. Children who do weigh more than 40 pounds can still use the booster seat as a belt-positioning seat until reinforcing the seat.

To request the free reinforcement kit, consumers can call Evenflo toll-free at 800-233-5921 or visit the company’s website for more information.

The Arizona child injury attorneys at the Breyer Law Offices, P.S., understand the benefits available to the families of children injured by an unsafe product. We work to ensure that our clients receive the highest compensation possible. If your child has been injured by a defective product, contact our Phoenix product liability attorneys today. Contact our law office by calling 602-978-6400. We offer free and confidential consultations.

Those who own pools, or operate public ones, must follow certain laws, codes and regulations as set forth by the State of Arizona. However, sometimes these laws aren’t followed and the results can be tragic.

When accidents do happen, it’s always easier to blame the victim. But what happens when that victim is a child? Many people seem to think that a drowning accident lawsuit will accomplish nothing after the fact and that everyone should just move on. But we think that’s highly questionable. First of all, the victim’s family deserves compensation for their loss. In addition, the negligent party must be held accountable for their actions. And thirdly, shining the spotlight on pool safety is an important public service.

If a loved one has been killed in a drowning accident due to someone else’s negligence, please don’t hesitate to contact our Phoenix swimming pool accident lawyers. At Breyer Law Offices, we welcome your call – whether you know you want to bring a suit against the negligent party, or you’re simply looking for answers surrounding a possible drowning accident case. We can give you the information and advice you need, so you can make the best decision for you and your family.

As a certified specialist in injury and wrongful death law by the State Bar of Arizona, I am very familiar with people who have suffered tragedy. Many of my clients suffered life changing tragedies, and I helped the families of those who have lost loved ones as a result of unexpected traumatic events. However, the constant string of pool drownings throughout the State of Arizona, from Flagstaff down to Phoenix down to Tucson and across the entire state, is overwhelming.

According to published reports, drowning is the number one cause of accidental death among children Age 1 to 4 years old. In fact, according to at least one study, other than motor vehicle accidents, the leading cause of accidental death in children from Ages 1 to 14 years old is drowning.

Sometimes, of course, these numbers mean very little to the individual family who suffers such a tragedy. And, realistically, filing a lawsuit or hiring a personal injury lawyer is the last thing on somebody’s mind at the moment they first learn of a drowning death or near drowning tragedy. However, many families begin to consider their options at some point thereafter. Many families seek to have some justice and hope to provide a deterrent so that other kids will not suffer the same fate. However, those families deserve honest answers to both the strengths or potential weaknesses of any such claim. Those people deserve a no cost evaluation with a skilled Phoenix child swimming accident lawyer to decide what options they have and what their time deadlines may be in pursuing such a case.

If you or anybody you know is trying to decide whether or not they want to pursue a claim or, in the alternative, have decided to pursue a claim but want to speak to an experienced and reputable Arizona personal injury lawyer, please feel free to contact us at Breyer Law Offices, P.C. You can count on honest, straight forward advice that will allow you to make an informed decision that is in the best interest of you and you entire family.

Nearly a hundred children were killed and 2000 injured in the United States, according to a published report, due to a car backing over them. Most of these tragic children injury accidents in Arizona and throughout the nation occurred in residential driveways, meaning that in most cases someone reversing failed to identify that there was a child behind them.

It is always important to proceed with caution when backing out of a drive to avoid this kind of auto accident in Arizona. We understand too that mistakes happen, and that not every tragedy needs a lawsuit.

There are times, however, when there is negligence involved, and though nothing can be done to mitigate such a terrible loss as the death of a child, many of our clients want to see justice done, and so pursue a wrongful death lawsuit in Phoenix, Ahwatukee, or elsewhere in Arizona. Money does not eliminate the pain that comes from such a loss, but often it is comforting for families to know that there is some small measure of compensation available when the accident is due to someone else’s negligence, even if it is just an insurance company paying its policy holder’s limit.

Now, we do not mean to say that everybody who experiences the loss of a child should go out and hire a wrongful death lawyer in Arizona. This is often not in the best interests of those who have experienced such a loss. We have often encouraged people not to bring lawsuits even when it was within a person’s right to do so. Yet the time in which one can file a claim, usually two years in most Arizona personal injury cases, tends to run quickly after a terrible tragedy, so we do encourage people who believe they may have a personal injury or wrongful death case in Phoenix, Peoria, or elsewhere in Arizona to contact our skilled Phoenix child injury attorneys to help you make a decision.

There are issues far more complex than automobile accidents in which Arizona personal injury attorneys can help. People can be negligent in a number of ways, and each person must be responsible to do everything possible to avoid causing serious injury or wrongful death to others, and particularly when it comes to children’s injuries in Arizona.

Incidents where children drown or nearly drown in backyard swimming pools occur far too often in Arizona. We know that not every such occurrence should lead to prosecution, and we know that there is not always someone to blame when it happens. Yet, we also know that a caregiver or neighbor may sometimes not be paying attention, and gates or fences may not function correctly to keep a child out of a dangerous area. Negligence in these situations may be caused by the manufacturer of the barrier put up to prevent access or with the person responsible for caring for the child.

When we see news reports about how a 2-year-old boy nearly drowned in a swimming pool in Camelback recently, this brings these issues to the forefront.

We are happy to hear that, according to early information, the 2-year-old is okay. That is the most important thing, though we also know that the hospital bills still need to be paid by someone.

As this happened at a neighbor’s house, and the homeowner may have been negligent, the owner’s insurance could help pay for the child’s medical expenses. This Arizona child’s injury should not lead to the bankruptcy of the family nor should it mean that the boy’s family should accept substandard medical care, as too often happens in many cases.

First and foremost, we would hope that the particular 2 year old, and every child who gets anywhere near water, gets completely better and that tragedies can be avoided. Second, once the worst tragedies are avoided or in any such situation, a skilled Arizona child injury attorney may be able to help the family avoid financial ruin through the homeowner’s insurance of the at fault party.

We hope this 2-year-old boy recovers fully and leads a normal, healthy life after this incident and hope that because of this, worse tragedies can be avoided. For those who have suffered, skilled Arizona child injury attorneys may help families like this one avoid financial ruin.