Was your child hurt while in someone else’s care in Atlanta, GA?
At Deitch + Rogers, we offer a free, confidential case review to every family whose child was injured in Atlanta, GA.
If your child was abused or injured at an Atlanta school, daycare, or youth program, a civil claim can pay for the care your child needs. The claim does not have to make your child relive the event again and again. Our Atlanta, GA child injury lawyer builds the case from records and adult witnesses wherever that is possible.
We have represented injured children and their parents for over four decades at Deitch + Rogers. We act for the child and the parents against the organization that was responsible for the child’s safety. Request a free consultation to learn how a claim would work for your family.
Child Injury Lawyer Atlanta, GA
A child injury lawyer brings civil claims on behalf of children who were harmed through abuse, violence, or a failure to supervise. A parent or guardian files the claim for the child, and the defendant is usually an institution. Schools, child care centers, churches, and youth organizations accept responsibility for children when they enroll them. The lawyer’s work is to show how the institution failed in that responsibility and what the failure cost the child.
Children under 18 make up 16.6% of Atlanta’s 529,110 residents, according to Census Bureau estimates. That share equals about 87,800 children. Most of them spend their weekdays in schools, child care centers, and youth programs, supervised by adults their parents did not choose. A child injury attorney examines how a program selected, trained, and supervised those adults when a child in its care is hurt.
Types of Child Injury Cases We Handle in Atlanta, GA
Our child injury cases come from places where parents hand over supervision to an organization. We do not handle ordinary playground accidents. Our child injury attorneys take cases involving abuse, assault, serious neglect, and violent crime in the settings below.
- School injuries. Students are assaulted by classmates, abused by staff, and injured during unsupervised periods of the school day. We review earlier reports about the person responsible and the school’s response to each one.
- Daycare injuries. Infants and toddlers cannot describe what happened to them. These cases depend on classroom video, staffing records, and state inspection reports. A child injury attorney compares the staff on duty with the number of children in the room. Unexplained fractures, head injuries, and bruising are common reasons parents contact us.
- Church injuries. Children are abused in nurseries, youth groups, and overnight programs run by religious organizations. Volunteer screening and rules against one-on-one contact are the main subjects of the investigation.
- YMCA injuries. YMCA branches operate child care, sports, and day camps. Abuse or an assault in one of those programs supports a claim based on how the branch hired and supervised its staff.
- Summer camp abuse. Camps place children with seasonal counselors, often overnight and away from their parents. The question of who is liable when camp abuse happens depends on the camp operator, the sponsoring organization, and the counselor’s employer.
- Residential treatment facility abuse. Children placed in behavioral health and residential programs depend entirely on the staff. Sexual and physical abuse in these facilities often follows poor staffing levels and ignored complaints.
- Gun violence against children. Children are shot at apartment complexes, parks, and businesses where the owner knew about earlier violence. We bring the claim against the property owner whose security failures contributed to the shooting.
- After-school and tutoring programs. Private programs take custody of children between the end of the school day and pickup. A program that leaves children unsupervised or hires an employee without screening is liable for an assault that follows.
Why Choose Deitch + Rogers as My Child Injury Lawyer in Atlanta, GA?
Results for Children and Their Families
Clients of our firm have been paid more than $200 million altogether. Several of our largest results involved children or institutions that care for them:
- A sexual assault case against an institution produced a $60 million jury verdict.
- The mother of an infant who died won a $46 million judgment from a Gwinnett County jury.
- Three sexual assault victims settled their claims for $3.5 million in total.
- An apartment sexual assault claim resolved for $600,000.
Past results do not predict the outcome of another case, and each claim depends on its own facts.
Families do not pay us by the hour or in advance. Our fee is contingent, and we advance the costs of the investigation, the lawsuit, and consulting specialists. The fee and the costs are taken from the money recovered, and we are owed nothing if there is no recovery.
Credentials Parents Can Verify
Andrew Rogers holds charter membership in the National Crime Victim Bar Association and has been named to Super Lawyers. He has practiced law since 1988. Gilbert Deitch studied law at the University of Tennessee and has represented crime victims since 1970. He has discussed crime victims’ rights on ABC’s 20/20, NBC Nightly News, and WSB-TV. Our firm also represents families as a negligent security lawyer in Atlanta, GA when a child is hurt by crime on unsafe property.
What Is Important to Understand About a Child Injury Case?
What Are Important Aspects of a Child Injury Case?
A child injury case has to be proven without adding to the child’s distress. A child injury attorney plans the case around that requirement from the start. Our approach to preventing retraumatization shapes several decisions:
- We build the case on documents, video, and adult witnesses before we consider testimony from the child.
- We coordinate with the child’s therapist so that legal steps do not disrupt treatment.
- We ask the court to limit how and where a child is questioned when questioning cannot be avoided.
- We keep parents informed so that they can decide what their child is told about the case.
The institution’s own records usually carry the case. Hiring files, incident reports, and earlier complaints show what the organization knew, and none of that evidence requires the child to speak.
Damages, Liability, and Compensation for Child Injury Cases
An organization that takes charge of children must use ordinary care in hiring, training, and supervising its staff. It is liable for negligence when it fails to use that care and a child is harmed. The adult who abused or assaulted the child is also liable.
Damages in a child’s case are measured over a longer period than damages in an adult’s case:
- Medical bills include treatment the child will need as he or she grows.
- Counseling costs cover therapy now and at later stages of development.
- Educational costs are recoverable when the injury requires tutoring or special services.
- Reduced earning capacity is compensated when a permanent injury limits the work the child can do as an adult.
- Pain, fear, and emotional harm are non-economic damages, and a jury sets their value.
- Punitive damages apply when an institution consciously ignored a known risk to children.
An Atlanta child injury attorney documents each category with records from doctors, therapists, and schools. Georgia’s victim compensation program can help pay for counseling and medical care while the civil claim is pending.
What Should You Bring to Your Child Injury Consultation?
Parents attend the first meeting with an Atlanta child injury attorney, and the child does not need to be present. The following records are helpful:
- Medical and counseling records show the injuries and the treatment so far.
- Enrollment forms, handbooks, and messages from the school or program show what the organization promised.
- Incident reports and any written explanation the organization gave you show its account of the event.
- The names of other parents, teachers, and staff members give us people to interview.
- A police report number or the name of the child protective services caseworker helps us request official records.
The consultation costs nothing. We will explain what we can prove with the records alone and whether we believe your child would need to take part.
What Is the Child Injury Case Timeline?
A two-year filing deadline applies to most Georgia personal injury claims. Separate timing rules apply to claims brought for minors, and we review those rules with each family. A case usually proceeds in this order:
- We send the organization a written demand to preserve video, personnel files, and reports.
- We gather medical records and speak with adult witnesses.
- The child’s doctors and therapists describe the expected course of recovery.
- We file the lawsuit and exchange evidence with the organization and its insurer.
- We take the sworn testimony of administrators, supervisors, and the staff members involved.
- A settlement or a jury verdict concludes the case.
A child injury lawyer at our firm does not recommend settlement until the child’s long-term needs are understood.
Reach Out to Deitch + Rogers to Schedule a Consultation
Our Atlanta child injury lawyers meet with parents at no cost and in confidence. We collect a fee only from compensation we obtain for your child. Contact us and ask for a free consultation, where we can review your child’s injury and the organization involved. We answer calls at any hour and will arrange a meeting time that works for your family.
(770) 588-0400 