What You Should Know About Toy Related Injuries
Michael Babboni
Personal Injury
Recalls
When you think of personal injury lawsuits, you often think of auto accidents, slip and fall accidents, and ever the injuries that happen on the job. However, sometimes injuries can come from unexpected places. One of the best examples of this is toy related injuries. With the holidays freshly come and gone, children are out enjoying all of the toys they got over the holidays. However, this also can mean an increase in toy-related injuries.Each year, thousands of children are injured because of toys every year. In some cases, the accident isn’t actually the fault of the toy manufacturer. However, on occasion an injury may be due to the negligence or recklessness of a manufacturer. So while your children are enjoying their new toys, you may want to know a little more about toy related injuries and what could constitute a personal injury lawsuit.
So just how frequently do these kinds of injuries happen?
Toy related injuries account for roughly 260,000 emergency each year. One third of these accidents involve kids under the age of five years old and two thirds of toy related injuries involving kids younger than 12 years old. If that wasn’t bad enough, around half of toy injuries caused damage to the child’s face and head causing Traumatic Brain Injury and other serious injuries.
In a new study conducted by researchers at the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital (NCH), toy-related injuries has rose to 40 percent over the last two decades. From 1990 to 2011, it has been recorded that 3,278,073 children have received treatment in the emergency room for toy-related injuries. This would be the equivalent of one toy-related injury every three minutes.
The number 1 cause of this stark increase is kick scooters or non-motorized scooters, according to the researchers. Just from 2000 to 2010, scooters injured over 580,000 children or caused an injury every 11 minutes. That aside, other riding toys such as wagons, and tricycles also have caused a large amount of injuries towards children as well.
So how do you know whether you can go to court for your toy-related injury?
As we have mentioned, most injuries caused by toys are not the fault of the toy manufacturer. Every toy, no matter how safe it seems, has some level of risk. However, it is when hazards are present and not known about that legal action may be pursued.
For example, if a toy has inherent risks, but did not warn about the dangers, you may have a potential lawsuit. Or if a defect within makes the toy much more dangerous than it was supposed to be.
Typically, recalls involving defective toys occur rather quickly and you won’t have much of a case for legal action. However, if your child has been injured before the recall takes place, if their injury is due to a defect in the toy, or if it was caused by a danger that exists within the toy that you aren’t properly warned about, an attorney may be able to get you the financial compensation your entitled to for your injuries.
Whether your accident is from a toy or another form of personal injury, don’t hesitate to contact us! The last thing you need after an accident is to be stuck with the medical bills. Here at our St. Petersburg, we have the experience and knowledge to get you the financial compensation you need to recover after an accident. Connect with us today to get a free case review.