South Florida Personal Injury Blog

Miami-Dade personal injury lawyer Andrew Alitowski believes that injuries to children are among the most tragic. Summertime swimming pool injuries, injuries involving dog bites, and injuries stemming from poorly supervised construction equipment are some that commonly affect children. In South Florida, businesses and property owners must guard against injuries to small children. Sadly, many children in the Miami-Dade/Broward/Palm Beach area suffer highly preventable injuries. Miami accident attorney Andrew Alitowski encourages all property owners to take precautions to protect children.

In Florida, an attractive nuisance is a hazardous or dangerous condition that is likely to attract small children who cannot appreciate the risk posed by it. For instance, a swimming pool without a fence to keep children out could look very interesting to a five-year-old playing next door, but it is also extremely dangerous for a child so young to go swimming by herself. Likewise, construction equipment left outside of a residential building site could easily attract neighborhood children after the construction workers have gone home. Although abandoned tractors and mud might be something most adults would avoid, the scene could appear much more fun to kids.

Under Florida law, children under the age of six are never partially liable for their own actions. A child so young cannot be negligent because she cannot appreciate the seriousness of jumping into a swimming pool or investigating a construction site. Therefore, when a homeowner, landowner, or business creates an attractive nuisance, they will be liable for the child’s injuries arising out of it. This is true even when the accident is foreseeable but the extent of the injury is not.

Children at least six years of age can be contribute to their own injuries because they are old enough to appreciate some risks. How much a judgment is likely to be reduced depends on a number of factors, including the child’s age and maturity, as well as the egregiousness of the defendant’s actions. Those factors are evaluated by a judge or jury to make a determination of the percentage the child and the property owner are each at fault.

Sadly, Florida has more small children drown in swimming pools each year than any other state. Although the balmy climate probably means that there are substantially more swimming pools in Florida than in most other states, the statistic is still startling. Homeowners should erect fencing and follow all recommended safety precautions. Property owners must take steps to reduce the risk of harm to young children when there are dangerous conditions on their property that they know or should know would attract children.

Generally, when a child receives a settlement from an attractive nuisance claim, the funds will stay in trust for the child. If the settlement is in excess of $5,000, a circuit judge must personally approve it; for smaller amounts, the parents or guardians of the child may approve it. The funds to be used for the benefit of the child.