Personal injuries can happen to people of all ages, from the very young to the very elderly. My name is Griff Tonkin and I'm one of the partners here at the Arthofer and Tonkin Law Offices. We're exclusively a personal injury firm, which means we only help people who have been injured by the negligence of someone else.
Today I want to talk to you about the law that relates to injuries to very young people. If you're a minor that's under the age of 18, you cannot prosecute a lawsuit on your own behalf. You have to have a guardian ad litem.
In most cases, that's an adult that you trust in your family and very likely either your mom or your dad. There could be some unique circumstances where your guardian ad litem is not apparent, but for the purposes of this video, I think that that suffices to illustrate the point. When you're a young person, we can settle your case under the age of 18 if the court approves of the settlement.
There are limited instances where the court does not have to approve the settlement, but because the court's primary interest is making sure that the young person who suffered the injuries is taken care of once they reach the age of majority, most times courts do need to approve a minor settlement. But there are other instances where no one brings a claim on behalf of the injured minor and now you may have turned 18 years old. You may still have difficulties related to those injuries or the mental impact from those mental injuries that you suffered when you were a child.
You may wonder, can I bring a claim now that I'm an adult? The answer to that question is yes. You have two years from the day you turn 18 in most instances and there are limited exceptions. In most instances, you have two years from the day you turn 18 to bring a personal injury action for something that occurred to you during your minority.
Again, I noted there are limited exceptions. It's critically important that if you were injured as a minor and you're now an adult and you think you'd like to move forward, that you contact an appropriately qualified personal injury attorney immediately. failure to comply with time limits announced in the law, often called statutes of limitations, may result in you losing your right to make a claim forever.
So call an attorney who practices exclusively in the area of personal injury law, like those of us here at the Arthofer and Tonkin Law Offices, to determine if an injury that occurred to you as a minor is still viable now that you're an adult. Call us today. Our consultations are free.
