New Jersey Daycare Injury Attorneys
Advocacy for families and children injured by negligence in NJ
Working parents place a lot of trust in day care and child care facilities. We assume that they will protect and nurture our children, and keep them safe. When they fail to do so, you can hold them accountable for the injuries and trauma they cause.
The attorneys of Eichen Crutchlow Zaslow, LLP are your advocates when your child is injured due to someone else’s negligence. Our New Jersey child injury lawyers put the needs and best interests of your family first, and we fight to ensure that your and your child’s future is secure. With offices throughout New Jersey, we are always here when you need us.
How can we help?
- What leads to child injuries at NJ day care centers?
- What kind of day care-related injury cases do you take?
- What kinds of injury-causing accidents are common at day care facilities?
- Who is liable if my child is hurt at day care?
- What are my legal options for an NJ day care injury claim?
- How long do I have to file a lawsuit against a New Jersey day care?
- Do you have a day care injury lawyer near me?
What leads to child injuries at NJ daycare centers?
Children will get hurt; it’s in the nature of being children. But when your child is at a day care, he or she is supposed to be supervised by professionals at all times to minimize (and hopefully eliminate) the risk of injury.
Failure to supervise the children at the daycare center is one type of negligence; others include:
- Failure to train staff
- Failure to maintain/obtain fire extinguishers, smoke alarms, and first aid kits
- Failure to remove toxic chemicals from reach of children
- Failure to inspect toys, furniture, and other items for choking hazards, broken pieces, sharp corners, etc.
- Failure to remove/replace dangerous items or playground equipment
- Failure to hire enough staff for a suitable staff-to-child ratio
- Failure to conduct background checks on potential employees (negligent hiring)
- Failure to prevent acts of violence between the children
- Acts of physical, verbal, or sexual abuse by staff
- Unsafe transportation practices, including failure to install/use safety equipment in vehicles, allowing children to run/play in parking lots, etc.
- Failure to install safety fencing around the facilities
- Failure to install proper security measures
When NJ day cares fail to keep their premises safe, or engage in neglectful or abusive acts, you can hold them accountable for the injuries your child sustained.
What kind of day care-related cases do you take?
Eichen Crutchlow Zaslow, LLP represents families whose children were injured because of negligence. Our New Jersey day care injury lawyers can help if your child suffered:
- Brain trauma or brain damage
- Spine and spinal cord injury
- Burn injury
- Sexual assault
- Skull fractures
- Fatal injury
- Broken bones
- Nerve damage
- Disfiguring injuries
- Suffocation injuries
Child injuries of any kind can have long-term, even permanent effects on your child’s physical and cognitive development. Pediatric brain trauma is especially dangerous, as it can compound over time. A concussion, for example, can end up affecting your child’s ability to communicate, walk, and learn.
Broken bones are also incredibly serious, especially if they affect growth plates. A child who breaks his or her leg may end up with stunted or uneven growth.
Another danger to children is permanent disfigurement from animal attacks. Day cares and child care centers which bring in petting zoos as a treat may find themselves liable if the animals attack the children. Often, the result of such attacks is facial disfigurement simply because children are small; their faces are closer to the animals.
What kinds of injury-causing accidents are common at daycare facilities?
- Falls from playground equipment
- Bicycle/tricycle accidents
- Choking
- Allergic reactions
- Bottle warmer burns
- Being hit by objects
- Animal attacks
- Drowning
- Sexual abuse/assault
- Transportation accidents
- Lead exposure
- Sport-related injuries
- Crushing injuries
- Acts of violence by other children
- “Shaken baby” syndrome
- Dangerous formula
You’ll note that every single one of these injuries is preventable when NJ day care workers are doing their jobs properly. Our child injury lawyers can help if your baby or child suffered harm.
Who is liable if my child is hurt at daycare?
If your child is injured while at day care, the following parties may be liable:
- The day care/child care facility administrators
- The staff of the daycare facility
- Any third-party contractors, workers, or volunteers
- Any outside facility responsible for care during a field trip or outing
- The manufacturer of a dangerous and/or defective product
- The parents of children who caused your child’s injuries
Child injury claims are complex for many reasons, including because there are often so many liable parties. Our NJ day care injury lawyers have the resources and skills to handle this kind of complex litigation.
New Jersey mandated reporters
Under New Jersey law, “All residents of New Jersey are mandated reporters, meaning that any person who has a reasonable cause to believe that a child has been subjected to acts of abuse or neglect should immediately report this information to the proper authorities.” Certain professionals are required to take training in this type of reporting – and that includes day care facilities as well as home-based care providers.
Because of the seriousness of child abuse, reporters are granted civil and criminal immunity if they report suspected abuse in good faith. Failure to report, however, can lead to criminal consequences, and can open a person to civil liability.
What are my legal options for an NJ daycare injury claim?
If your child was injured at a daycare in New Jersey, our attorneys can help you file a lawsuit against any and all liable parties. That could take the form of a:
- Premises liability lawsuit, alleging an unsafe space for children.
- Personal injury lawsuit, alleging negligence, neglect, or abuse by staff, administrators, and any applicable parties.
- Product liability lawsuit, alleging a dangerous product caused your child harm.
- Wrongful death lawsuit, in the event that your child’s injuries are fatal.
No matter what kind of lawsuit you file, you can seek damages for medical expenses and related costs, any wages you lost, and property that was damaged, and any pain and suffering your child sustained.
We understand that no amount of money is ever going to make up for the losses that you and your child have sustained. But you shouldn’t have to suffer the undue financial burdens that come with serious injuries – especially when they could and should have been prevented. Eichen Crutchlow Zaslow, LLP believes in holding people accountable for their actions.
How long do I have to file a lawsuit against a New Jersey daycare?
Most personal injury cases in New Jersey have a two-year statute of limitations, but injuries to minors are different. You have until two years from the child’s 18th birthday to file your lawsuit.
However, the statute of limitations for sexual assault of a child is longer. Under the law:
Every action at law for an injury resulting from the commission of sexual assault, any other crime of a sexual nature… against a minor under the age of 18… shall be commenced within 37 years after the minor reaches the age of majority, or within seven years from the date of reasonable discovery of the injury and its causal relationship to the act, whichever date is later.
It is in your child’s best interest not to wait to file a lawsuit. The sooner we can get started, the sooner we can help get justice for your child.
Do you have a day care injury lawyer near me?
Eichen Crutchlow Zaslow, LLP meets clients at our offices located in:
- Edison, NJ at 40 Ethel Road, and
- Toms River, NJ at 563 Lakehurst Road
We also offer phone and video consultations, and provide in-hospital visits for families who cannot come to us.
If your child is hurt at day care, our NJ lawyers are here to help
Eichen Crutchlow Zaslow, LLP advocates for New Jersey families whose children suffered harm because of negligence. Let us help you find a new path forward. Please call or contact us to arrange a free consultation with an experienced New Jersey attorney at one of our offices in Edison, Toms River, or Red Bank.