Child Injury Attorneys

Child Injury/Wrongful Death: Plaintiff and his girlfriend broke up in August 2010. She and the couple’s toddler moved in with her father and his wife, who lived in Rio Rico, Arizona. Three months later around Thanksgiving, the child began to suffer suspicious injuries, including a subgaleal hematoma behind the right ear and black eyes. In January 2011 the child suffered a suspicious cut of the left wrist which was bandaged by his maternal grandfather, who is a practicing physician in Nogales, Sonora. By early February the child had suffered a spiral fracture of the left tibia, suspicious for child abuse. Plaintiff called CPS, which found no abuse. Soon after the mother moved with the child to Nogales, Sonora, with her new boyfriend. After suffering additional injuries, on April 20, 2011, the child suffered fatal injuries to the skull. Evidence suggests the mother’s new boyfriend was responsible for the injuries. The defendant maternal grandfather was sued in Santa Cruz County for his participation in negligently directing the child’s healthcare to Nogales, Sonora, where doctors who examined him were personal friends or acquaintances of the grandfather, and who did not make contemporaneous medical reports of the consultations. The Plaintiff’s theory of the case involved the grandfather’s statutory duty to report suspected child abuse based on the fact that he rendered treatment to the child and the child was living under his care, factors which required reporting of suspicious injury. The jury found the doctor to be 60 percent liable; his wife, a paid caregiver of the child, 30 percent liable; and the mother of the child 10 percent liable. Verdict: $3.5 million.