Raleigh Child Injury Lawyer

What a Raleigh Child Injury Claim Means for Your Family

You spend your days watching your child deal with pain and attending various doctors’ appointments. At night, you wonder if your child will fully heal and how you will pay for what comes next.

You should not have to carry that alone.

As a Raleigh child injury law firm, O’Malley Tunstall, PC lawyers know how insurance companies respond when a child gets hurt. If your child has been hurt due to the negligence of someone else, our team of experienced child injury lawyers will help you seek compensation for your losses. 

Tell us what happened, and let’s figure out what your child needs next.

The Kinds of Child Injury Cases We Take in Raleigh

Children get hurt in the places parents trust most: school, daycare, a friend’s backyard, a birthday party. As a Raleigh child injury lawyer, our team looks at each of those settings differently, because a swimming pool accident and a defective car seat do not raise the same legal questions. We handle claims involving:

• Playground and daycare accidents caused by unsafe equipment or inadequate supervision
• Injuries from defective toys, cribs, car seats, and other children’s products
• Dog bites and animal attacks, on or off the owner’s property
• Swimming pool and pond accidents involving unfenced or unsupervised water
• Bounce house and inflatable accidents at parties, fairs, and rented equipment
• Car, bicycle, and pedestrian accidents involving a child passenger or rider
• School and after-school program injuries tied to inadequate supervision

Each of these cases starts with the same question: did the adult responsible for your child’s safety know about the danger, or should they have.

Why North Carolina Makes These Claims Harder Than Parents Expect

The law treats certain places and things as attractive nuisances, meaning if a property owner keeps something a child cannot resist, like an unfenced pool or a broken trampoline, they can be held responsible when a child gets hurt exploring it, even if the child was not invited.

Insurance companies know this, and they also know North Carolina is one of the few states that follows pure contributory negligence. However, contributory negligence doesn’t apply to children the same way it does to adults:

• Children under 7 years old. Children under 7 years of age are incapable of contributory negligence.
• Children ages 7-14. There is a rebuttable presumption the child is incapable of negligence. The defense has to affirmatively prove the child acted unreasonably for their age 
• Children ages 14-18. The presumption is that teenagers aged 14 and older can be negligent. However, this presumption is rebuttable.

Our attorneys are prepared for contributory negligence defenses in child injury cases.

How a Child’s Settlement Works Differently Under North Carolina Law

A child’s injury claim does not work exactly like an adult’s, and most parents do not find that out until they are already negotiating with an insurance company.

There are usually two separate claims. One belongs to you, the parent, for medical bills and other costs you paid out of pocket. The other belongs to your child, for their pain, scarring, or the lasting effects of the injury.

Because a minor cannot sign away their own legal rights, North Carolina courts generally require a settlement on a child’s claim to go through a guardian ad litem. A guardian ad litem is a neutral adult appointed to review whether the settlement is fair to the child, before a judge signs off. Once approved, the court decides how the money is protected, often in a restricted account, until your child turns 18.

We walk families through every part of that process, from the paperwork to the hearing, so a fair settlement does not get held up by a step you did not know was coming.

Where Wake County Child Injury Claims Get Resolved

When a child injury case in Wake County cannot be resolved with the insurance company directly, it is filed at the Wake County Courthouse, 316 Fayetteville Street in downtown Raleigh. Families from Raleigh, Cary, Apex, Garner, and the rest of Wake County bring their children’s injury claims here, and our attorneys appear in this courthouse regularly on behalf of injured children and their parents.

The Deadline for Your Child’s Claim Is Not the Same as Yours

North Carolina gives most injury claims three years to be filed in court, counting from the date of the accident (N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-52). For a child, that clock does not start the same way. Under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-17, the three-year window for your child’s own injury claim does not begin running until they turn 18, meaning they generally have until their 21st birthday to bring that claim in their own name.

That extra time protects your child, but your own claim, for the medical bills and other costs you paid out of pocket, still runs on the standard three-year clock, not your child’s extended one. Waiting to sort out which deadline applies to which part of your case can cost you options you did not know you had. Evidence like surveillance footage, incident reports, and maintenance records also tends to disappear the longer a claim sits.

This reflects North Carolina law as of August 2026.

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Questions Raleigh Parents Ask About Child Injury Claims

How is my child’s injury claim different from an adult’s?

Your child cannot sign away their own legal rights, so any settlement on their behalf usually needs court approval and a guardian ad litem appointed to confirm it is fair to them. Your own claim for medical costs you paid works differently and follows the standard adult process.

Do I have to go to court to settle my child’s claim?

In most cases, yes. Even if you and the insurance company agree on an amount, North Carolina courts generally require a judge to review and approve any settlement involving a minor before it becomes final.

What can my child’s claim cover?

Medical bills, future treatment, pain and suffering, and in some cases permanent disfigurement or disability. Punitive damages are available in limited situations where the at-fault party’s conduct was especially reckless.

Will the insurance company just talk to me directly?

They will try. Adjusters are trained to get a recorded statement early, before you understand the full extent of your child’s injuries or the actual value of the claim. Once you have an attorney, route all communication with the insurer through them instead.

What does it cost to hire a Raleigh child injury lawyer?

We work on a contingency fee basis for child injury claims, meaning you do not pay attorney’s fees unless we recover compensation for your child. A free consultation costs nothing and does not obligate you to hire us.

What should I do right after my child is hurt?

Get your child medical attention first. Then, as soon as you are able, write down what happened while it is fresh, photograph the scene or the product involved, and get the names of anyone who witnessed it.

If your question is not answered here, the fastest way to get a real answer is to tell us what happened.

Talk to a Raleigh Child Injury Lawyer About Your Child’s Case

You do not have to figure out the legal side of your child’s recovery on your own. If your child was hurt because of someone else’s carelessness, whether at a playground in Raleigh, a daycare in Wake County, or somewhere else in North Carolina, contact O’Malley Tunstall, PC today for a free consultation. We will listen to what happened, explain your options in plain language, and help you take the next step toward getting your child what they need.