4-Year-Old Can Be Sued, Judge Rules in Bike Case

[flycy]

The worst of this this is that the woman's estate is bringing the suite. This is nothing but money grubbing lawyers and relatives. Nothing constructive will come from a lawsuite against a 4 year old. 4 year olds do not listen and will run into things while riding a bike, they always have. I'll bet this 87 year old lady was not fullly in control of her bike at 4. Bad things happen in life, they are not always someone else's fault. Can't we please reserve lawsuites for those who are truly negligent.

 

[sunset]

Isn't it funny how lawyers and judges (former lawyers) set presidence (sp?) that allows silly things like this to go to court? No matter how the case turns out, the lawyers win by collecting their checks. Add in the fact that a good portion of our legislature are lawyers and you have an even bigger conflict of interest.

Has common sense really fallen so far out of favor that we allow a four year old to be sued? This is just plain silly.

 

[alarson]

Bad things happen in life, they are not always someone else's fault.

But someone must always be to blame!

**** happens. I agree, nothing good will come of suing a 4 year old.

 

[iowastatechris]

Childhood ends at four. How pathetic is our legal system?

The problem here is if you don't have the ability to find some one of a young age liable (or there parents perhaps in this case) you are essentially giving them a free pass and sticking the victim with the medical expenditures. Yes it was a mistake and that is understandable, but would it be fair to stick the victim with the medical bills? Bottom line it was the child and the child's parents responsibility not to hit the victim. Would it be fair for the victim's family to have to pay for the wrong doing of another in this situation?

 

[Cyznutz]

The problem here is if you don't have the ability to find some one of a young age liable (or there parents perhaps in this case) you are essentially giving them a free pass and sticking the victim with the medical expenditures. Yes it was a mistake and that is understandable, but would it be fair to stick the victim with the medical bills? Bottom line it was the child and the child's parents responsibility not to hit the victim. Would it be fair for the victim's family to have to pay for the wrong doing of another in this situation?

First, I hope you never have kids, because you are in for a rude awakening! Do you really think that a 4 year old has the capacity to know “right from wrongâ€￾ and to actually know the consequences for their actions!! Yes, that is the parent’s responsibility to teach right from wrong, but it’s not an overnight process, it takes a lot of time (many years)!! Plus, I think the lady had medical insurance, so I’ll assume that would cover her plastic hip!

Whatever happened to kids being kids? Sorry, your 4 now, no more games! This is all about money and that’s it!!

 

[iowastatechris]

First, I hope you never have kids, because you are in for a rude awakening! Do you really think that a 4 year old has the capacity to know “right from wrongâ€￾ and to actually know the consequences for their actions!! Yes, that is the parent’s responsibility to teach right from wrong, but it’s not an overnight process, it takes a lot of time (many years)!! Plus, I think the lady had medical insurance, so I’ll assume that would cover her plastic hip!

Whatever happened to kids being kids? Sorry, your 4 now, no more games! This is all about money and that’s it!!

Look no reason to get so personal and bent out of shape, but to a certain extent yes I do think a 4 year old has somewhat of a capacity to know "right from wrong". Do you just let your four year old do whatever they want, and assume because they are four they understand absolutely nothing you say? Probably Not. Do I really like that we are suing a four old, not really, but there parents put them in this position anyways. The parent made the decision to allow them to ride bikes on a public sidewalk without enough caution. My biggest problem with not holding the child or parent responsible is what if the lady did not have insurance should we just say too bad so sad, maybe you will get lucky and have someone older on a bike hit you next time? Bottom line in my opinion is yes it sucks to put a four year old in a position like this, but it sucks more to not give relief to the victim. I am in no way saying children should not be able to play games or have fun, but we have to preach safety as a primary precaution. And when a accident like this happens it should be the parents job to step up and fix the problem.

 

[MrGreg]

If I was a lawyer pursuing this case, I sure would feel scummy.

 

[iowastatechris]

If I was a lawyer pursuing this case, I sure would feel scummy.

Yeah I will give you that, not exactly a case I would like to handle.

 

[drednot57]

If the lawsuit is successful, I'm guessing the children's parents will have to pay the damages. I can see as the kids were acting recklessly under a parent's supervision, and the parent did not attempt to correct the behavior, the parent is presumably negligent in this case, thus the basis for the lawsuit. I'm assuming under current NY state law that all parties involved must be named in the suit, so the children got lumped with their parents. Even if this inclusion were the case, I wish the judge exercised some discretion and allowed the kids to be dropped from the suit saving his court and the state of NY considerable embarrassment. Evidently in NY, the age limit is three years old on legal liability unlike Iowa where kids under fourteen years of age (I think) cannot be held legally liable for their actions.

 

[jsmith86]

If I was a lawyer pursuing this case, I sure would feel scummy.

Until you realized how much money you stood to make. Especially if you could expand it into a class action suit against four year olds everywhere.