Serious Childhood Injury Attorneys Helping Families Move Forward
When a child is seriously injured, the consequences often extend far beyond the initial medical emergency. Childhood injuries can interfere with physical development, cognitive growth, education, and long-term independence. In Colorado, injury claims involving children follow different legal rules than adult cases, and early decisions can affect a child’s future for years or even decades.
At Frank Azar Car & Truck Accident Lawyers, we represent families across Colorado whose children have been injured. These cases demand careful documentation of medical needs, developmental impact, future care, and how an injury may affect a child well into adulthood. We work to ensure that compensation reflects not just what happened, but what lies ahead.
Why Work With a Colorado Child Injury Lawyer From Our Firm?
Child injury cases are not just personal injury cases with a smaller plaintiff. They involve different rules, longer timelines, court oversight, and life-long consequences that insurers are eager to minimize early. Families need a firm with the size, experience, and resources to handle those realities head-on.
Frank Azar Car & Truck Accident Lawyers is the largest personal injury law firm in Colorado. For more than 40 years, we have represented families whose children were seriously injured in preventable accidents, and we have recovered more than $2.3 billion in compensation on behalf of our clients.* That scale matters in cases where future medical care, long-term disability, and adulthood outcomes must be accounted for from the start.
Our firm understands the legal structures unique to child injury claims, including court approval of settlements, Rule 16 petitions, structured settlements, and conservatorships. We work with medical experts, life-care planners, and financial professionals to ensure compensation reflects not just immediate treatment, but the child’s long-term needs as they grow.
Insurance companies often try to resolve child injury claims quickly, before the full impact of the injury is clear. We do not rush these cases. We prepare them thoroughly, document future risks, and approach each matter with trial readiness in mind. That approach changes how insurers evaluate risk — and how seriously they treat your claim.
Families working with our firm do not pay anything upfront. We represent child injury cases on a contingency fee basis, meaning there is no attorney fee unless compensation is recovered. That allows parents to focus on their child’s recovery while we handle the legal and financial pressure.
When a child is injured, the stakes extend far beyond the present moment. Our role is to protect what comes next.
*Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.
What Are the Most Common Child Injuries?
Serious childhood injuries can take many forms, depending on how and where the trauma occurs. Some of the most frequently litigated injuries in Colorado child injury cases include the following:
- Traumatic brain injuries and concussions: Even mild head trauma can interfere with learning, memory, emotional regulation, and behavior. Symptoms may emerge gradually and become more pronounced as academic and cognitive demands increase.
- Fractures and orthopedic injuries: Broken bones in children often heal, but fractures involving joints or growth plates can disrupt normal development and lead to long-term mobility or alignment problems.
- Spinal and neck injuries: Sudden force from vehicle collisions, falls, or sports can injure the spine, sometimes without immediate symptoms. These injuries can affect posture, movement, and nerve function as a child grows.
- Burns and scald injuries: Thermal injuries can require extended medical care, lead to permanent scarring, and cause functional limitations, particularly when joints or large surface areas are involved.
- Internal injuries: Trauma to the abdomen or chest can damage organs and may not be immediately apparent. Delayed diagnosis can increase the risk of complications and long-term health issues.
- Eye and vision injuries: Damage to the eye or surrounding structures can impair vision development, affect learning, and limit future occupational opportunities.
- Choking and airway injuries: These incidents can cause oxygen deprivation, leading to neurological injury even when outward signs appear minimal.
In Colorado, children with serious injuries are often treated at pediatric specialty hospitals, including Children’s Hospital Colorado, which serves as a regional referral center for complex trauma, neurological injuries, and long-term pediatric care. Families may encounter transfers between facilities as a child’s condition evolves or specialized treatment becomes necessary.
What distinguishes child injury cases is not just the type of injury, but the uncertainty surrounding long-term outcomes. Any legal claim involving an injured child must account for that uncertainty and the possibility of future medical and developmental needs.
Long-Term Effects of Pediatric Brain Injuries
Brain injuries in children often do not reveal their full impact right away. Many of the skills affected by head trauma — attention, emotional regulation, impulse control, planning, and higher-level reasoning — are still developing at the time of injury. As a result, challenges may not become apparent until years later, when academic, social, or behavioral demands increase.
Children with traumatic brain injuries may initially appear to recover, only to struggle later with learning delays, memory problems, difficulty following instructions, or changes in behavior that interfere with school performance and daily functioning. Some experience problems with focus, emotional regulation, or judgment that emerge gradually and intensify over time.
In other cases, neurological complications such as seizures do not develop until months or years after the injury. These late-onset effects can require ongoing medical care, educational accommodations, and long-term monitoring as the child grows.
Because the trajectory of a pediatric brain injury is often unclear early on, these cases require patience and careful observation. What looks manageable in the months following an injury may evolve into more significant limitations as the child’s environment and expectations change.
About Growth Plate Fractures
Growth plates are areas of developing tissue near the ends of a child’s bones that control future bone length and shape. When a fracture involves a growth plate, the injury is not just to the bone as it exists today, but to how that bone is expected to develop over time.
Damage to a growth plate can interrupt or alter normal growth, leading to asymmetry, joint misalignment, or differences in limb length that may not become apparent until months or years after the initial injury. In some cases, what appears to be a routine fracture heals on the surface, while underlying growth disruption continues silently.
These injuries often require long-term monitoring, repeat imaging, and, in some cases, corrective surgery to address emerging complications as the child grows. Because the full consequences may not be visible at the time of treatment, growth plate fractures carry a heightened risk of future impairment that must be considered carefully rather than assumed away early in the process.
What Causes Most Child Injuries in Colorado?
Childhood injuries in Colorado arise from a mix of everyday risks and activities that reflect the state’s geography, transportation patterns, and recreation culture. The most common causes include:
- Motor vehicle crashes: Including collisions involving passenger vehicles, pickups, and SUVs on highways, rural roads, and residential streets
- Falls: From stairs, playground equipment, windows, balconies, ladders, and uneven outdoor terrain
- Poisoning: Accidental ingestion of medications, household chemicals, agricultural products, or improperly stored substances
- Drowning and near-drowning incidents: In pools, hot tubs, reservoirs, irrigation ditches, lakes, and rivers
- Fires and burn injuries: From house fires, campfires, grills, fireworks, or hot liquids
- Firearm-related injuries: Including accidental discharge, improper storage, or unsecured weapons in the home
- Dog bites and animal-related injuries: Particularly involving unfamiliar or unsupervised animals
- Sports and recreational injuries: Including skiing, snowboarding, mountain biking, contact sports, and organized athletics
- Bicycle and micromobility accidents: Including traditional bicycles, e-bikes, scooters, ATVs, and other motorized recreational vehicles
Who Can Be Held Liable When a Child Is Injured?
Multiple parties may be responsible for a child’s injury, depending on where and how the incident occurred:
- Schools and Daycares: These institutions have some of the highest legal standards for duty of care. When they fail to supervise children properly, maintain safe facilities, or protect against foreseeable risks, they can be held liable.
- Youth Programs and Camps: Organized activities that enroll children are responsible for providing a safe environment and taking reasonable steps to prevent harm.
- Product Manufacturers, Retailers, and/or Distributors: Companies that produce or sell toys, playground equipment, or other children’s products must ensure they are safe for their intended use.
- Motorists: Drivers must exercise extra caution in areas where children are likely to be present. Disregarding traffic laws or failing to watch for children can result in legal responsibility for any injuries caused.
- Property Owners: When a child is injured on public property or as a guest, the property owner may be liable if hazards were not addressed or warnings were not provided.
- Medical Providers: If a child’s injury or worsening condition results from substandard medical care, misdiagnosis, or surgical error, healthcare providers can be liable for malpractice.
- Sports Organizations and Coaches: Athletic leagues, coaches, and trainers must follow safety protocols and provide appropriate equipment. Failure to do so can make them liable for sports-related injuries.
- Government Entities: Municipalities or public agencies may be liable for unsafe public spaces, poorly maintained playgrounds, or hazardous road conditions, though special notice and filing requirements apply under Colorado law.
Identifying the liable party is a critical first step in building a strong claim and securing the resources needed for your child’s recovery.
How School Bus Accidents Are Different
School bus accidents can be more complex than other child injury cases because multiple parties may share responsibility. Depending on the circumstances, liability could fall on:
- The school district: Poor route planning, inadequate driver screening, or insufficient safety procedures can lead to accidents.
- The bus driver or another driver: A bus driver or other motorist may be directly responsible.
- The bus manufacturer: Defective parts or failure to address known safety hazards can make the manufacturer liable.
- Maintenance providers: Third-party maintenance companies can be held responsible if poor repairs or inspections contributed to the crash.
Determining fault in school bus cases often requires a detailed investigation, which is why working with an experienced Colorado child injury lawyer is important.
Colorado’s Attractive Nuisance Doctrine
Under Colorado’s attractive nuisance doctrine, property owners must take additional precautions to protect children from hazards that may draw them in. Examples include swimming pools, trampolines, farm machinery, construction equipment, or tools left out in the open.
Children may not fully understand the risks posed by these hazards, and property owners who fail to secure them can be held liable for resulting injuries, even if the child was trespassing.
Can a Parent Waive a Child’s Right to Sue?
In Colorado, parents can sometimes sign waivers that limit their child’s right to sue, but this is not absolute. Courts generally uphold liability waivers only in specific situations – most often for recreational or extracurricular activities, such as sports or camp programs. Even then, waivers cannot protect against willful or reckless conduct, and they must meet strict legal requirements to be enforceable.
What Is the Statute of Limitations for a Child Injury Claim in Colorado?
In Colorado, most personal injury claims must be filed within two years of the injury (three years for motor vehicle accidents). However, when the injured person is a minor, the statute of limitations is “tolled,” or paused, until they turn 18. This means the filing deadline generally extends to two years after the child’s 18th birthday, regardless of how old the child was when the injury occurred.
Certain situations may shorten or lengthen that timeframe. For example, claims against government entities have much stricter deadlines, and some medical malpractice cases have different rules for minors. Because these timelines can vary, it’s important to get legal guidance as soon as possible to preserve your child’s right to compensation.
How Are Child Injury Settlements Approved in Colorado?
When a settlement is reached for an injured child, Colorado law requires court approval to ensure the agreement serves the child’s best interests. This process, called “compromising a minor’s claim,” acts as a safeguard because minors cannot legally enter into settlement agreements themselves. The court reviews the terms to confirm the amount fairly reflects the harm and future needs resulting from the injury.
For larger cases, the Rule 16 petition process applies. A Rule 16 petition must be filed if the settlement exceeds $10,000 or if the child will have ongoing medical expenses. The petition provides the court with details about the settlement amount, how the funds will be managed, the child’s anticipated future care, and other relevant information needed to approve the resolution.
Where Does the Compensation Go After a Child Injury Claim?
Unlike standard personal injury cases, child injury compensation is distributed differently. Compensation will either be distributed through a structured settlement or managed by a court-appointed conservator. Structured settlements will pay out portions of the settlement to the child to cover their expenses and medical treatments.
Court-appointed conservators will manage the funds on behalf of your child and regularly issue payments. In both cases, this payment structure exists to protect the principal settlement amount from being used inappropriately. It is more common for courts to distribute compensation through a structured settlement rather than a conservator.
What Damages Can You Claim for an Injured Minor?
When a child is seriously injured, the harm does not stop at the initial diagnosis or hospital discharge. Many childhood injuries affect development, education, and physical function over time, meaning the full scope of loss may not be clear for years. A child injury claim must account for both present needs and the ways an injury may compound as a child grows.
Damages in a Colorado child injury case may include:
- Medical expenses, including emergency care, hospital stays, surgeries, medical equipment, medications, physical therapy, counseling, and ongoing treatment
- Future medical and developmental care, such as rehabilitation, assistive devices, follow-up surgeries, or specialty care required as the child grows
- Educational and support services, including tutoring, special education resources, or accommodations tied to cognitive, behavioral, or physical limitations
- Pain and suffering, including physical pain, emotional distress, and the loss of normal childhood experiences
- Permanent disability or impairment, where an injury affects mobility, neurological function, or long-term independence
- Reduced future earning capacity, if an injury limits the child’s ability to pursue certain careers or work without restriction as an adult
In some cases, parents may also recover lost income if they are forced to miss work or reduce hours to care for their injured child.
Unlike adult injury claims, child injury damages often involve uncertainty. An injury that appears manageable at age six may interfere with education at twelve, independence at sixteen, or employment options later in life. A proper claim considers not just what has already happened, but how the injury may shape a child’s future over time.
Frequently Asked Questions About Child Injury Claims in Colorado
Does a child need their own lawyer in a personal injury case?
Not usually. The parent or guardian who filed the claim acts as the child’s legal representative in all personal injury matters.
What happens if the at-fault party is another child?
These cases can be especially complex. Children under age 7 are typically considered legally incapable of fault. As a result, liability is evaluated based on the conduct of other parties, including adults or caregivers. A child injury attorney can help determine liability based on the specifics of your situation.
Can my child still get compensation if they weren’t wearing a seat belt or helmet?
Yes. Under Colorado’s comparative negligence rule, failing to use safety gear may reduce the award, but it doesn’t eliminate the right to compensation if the other party bears some fault.
Can structured settlements be changed later if our child’s needs increase?
Yes, but modifying a structured settlement is often difficult. The court requires strong justification and clear evidence to make any post-settlement changes. Note that the total settlement award cannot be changed once it has been accepted.
Will my child have to testify or appear in court?
In most Colorado child injury cases, children do not testify and are not required to appear in court. Parents or guardians typically handle the legal process on the child’s behalf. Courts are careful to protect minors from unnecessary stress, and many cases resolve without trial. If court involvement is required, steps are usually taken to minimize a child’s participation and emotional burden.
What happens if my child needs medical care or therapy outside Colorado?
It is not uncommon for Colorado children with serious injuries to receive specialized care out of state, especially for neurological, orthopedic, or rehabilitative treatment. Medical care obtained outside Colorado can still be included as part of a child injury claim, as long as the treatment is reasonable and connected to the injury. Travel, lodging, and related expenses may also be considered when documenting damages.
If Your Child Was Injured Anywhere in Colorado, Call Us
If your child was injured, do not hesitate to call the child injury lawyers at Frank Azar Car & Truck Accident Lawyers today. We have recovered billions for our clients throughout Colorado and are ready to assist you during this incredibly difficult time. Allow us to help you and your family fight for the settlement you rightfully deserve. For a free consultation at no risk to you, please contact us.
Past results do not indicate what you could get on your case. This content is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading this page does not create an attorney-client relationship.
