Child Personal Injury Different??

Q: Looking for a Personal Injury Lawyer in Southern California. Had someone tell a friend that because their 3 year old lost a finger in door where doorknob was too close to side that they could get a lot more from landlord than if an adult lost a finger. Is this true and how much is normal for a lost finger in a case like this?? Also is there anywhere a non-lawyer can check on how good a lawyer is like the closed network between lawyers??

A: THere's no general rule of thumb, or finger (sorry) to evaluate an injury. Subjective, non-economic losses are flexible and depend on many factors. A good lawyer will worry about liability as well as damages; it's not obvious that the landlord is liable because a doorknob was "too close to side." I have no idea what that means, but in any event, the parents should find a lawyer ASAP. For personal injury lawyers, there's no "objective" rating system. One qualification which I think is a minimum for an attorney specializing in PI cases, is to be a member of the American Trial Lawyers Association, and better yet, active in that organization and/or local counterparts. Not just because I'm a member, but because it's the greatest professional organizationin the country, and it's dedicated to preserving the rights of citizens to fair compensation and access to the justice system. As

far as damages, for some types of claims, damages may be harder to prove for a child victim. In your loss of finger case, it may be difficult to recover much for loss of earnings. Suppose an adult victim was a pianist. Then loss of a finger might have very serious economic effect. If you have facial disfigurement, then a child's injury could be very sympathetic. But there's no schedule or "normal" amount for a given type of injury. Every case is different. But child or adult, loss of a finger is CLEARLY serious enough to warrant legal action and consulting a lawyer. What's more, in California the statute of limitations is only one year, so your friends should get going.