New York Personal Injury News & NYC Legal Current Events

NYC Judge: Toddler Can Be Sued For Manhattan Tricycle Accident

A New York Supreme Court Judge has ruled that two four-year-old children can indeed be liable for causing serious injury to an elderly woman in Manhattan in the spring on 2009. The children, along with their mothers, are involved in a personal injury lawsuit regarding negligence after the children struck a woman with their tricycles on a NYC sidewalk.

According to the lawsuit and the Associated Press, now-five-year-olds Juliet Breitman and Jacob Kohn were racing their tricycles on East 52nd Street while being watched by their mothers, Juliet Breitman and Jacob Kohn. The children collided with 87-year-old Claire Menagh, who suffered serious injuries, including a hip fracture that required significant medical attention. Menagh died of unrelated causes three months later, but her estate is carrying on the personal injury case.

While one injury attorney argued that the young children were too young to be liable for the accident and that the child was not engaged in an adult activity, the judge decided that even four-year-old children should understand the danger of racing their bike into a person. The judge added that the presence of the child’s mother did not mean that the child could act however she wanted.

Historically, persons under the age of four have been considered incapable of negligence because of their young age. But Menagh’s lawyer argued that Breitman was three months shy of being five years old at the time of the bike accident and should have known better.

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