If you or a loved one, particularly a minor, has been impacted by an assault, the trauma can extend long after the wounds have healed. A personal injury lawyer can help you seek damages.

Here are some of the ways that lawyers help parents and guardians recover damages for minors who have been harmed by an assault.

Fighting Back

Many assaults involving minors happen at school. If your child or a minor in your care is involved in a fight at school, you can seek damages from the individual(s) involved in the fight and the adults who let it happen in the first place.

1. Evidence: fights at school can be complicated by conflicting accounts of the event. It is critical to hand over all evidence related to the fight to your personal injury lawyer. This includes text messages, correspondences from educational administrators, the disciplinary actions taken by the school, police reports, social media postings, and anything related to the event. Depending on where you live, your personal injury lawyer can help you request access to close circuit footage captured by the school's security system

2. Protection: one of the biggest difficulties families face with fights that happen at school is the potential for the situation to continue to escalate even after the fight is over. Because your child is likely to see the individuals related to their case when they return to school, they may face bullying, intimidation, and anxiety. Your personal injury lawyer can help you file an injunction with the school to address the issue and/or help you file restraining orders against the perpetrators if the behavior pattern continues.

Settlements

Most personal injury cases are settled long before the appointed court date. To increase your odds of securing a larger settlement, your personal injury lawyer must provide a burden of proof that will convince the other side that they might lose and/or expend considerable resources to litigate the case in court.

Many personal injury cases involving fights at school are settled by the school's insurance provider. When working with an insurance provider your personal injury lawyer needs to make sure they are on the same page when it comes to your goals. If you're looking for a quick settlement, you will probably have to settle for a smaller sum. If you can be patient, your personal injury lawyer can likely negotiate a larger sum that better suits your case.