Philadelphia Child Injury Attorneys must follow additional procedures, as required by Pennsylvania law, set in place to protect a minor child in a child injury claim. These requirements are to ensure that the minor child's claim is properly handled by the child injury attorneys and the child's parents. A minor is entitled to the same damages as an adult, and any minor child 17 years of age or under can bring a claim for personal injury. However, the claim must be brought through a parent and/or guardian. 

Philadelphia Child Injury attorneys are required by law to use a fee agreement that a parent or guardian must sign. Depending upon the complexity of the case, attorneys representing minors usually agree to represent the minor at a reduced fee. When the minors case is settled with an insurance company, Pennsylvania law requires that Child Injury Attorneys file with the court, a petition for a minors compromise which requires the attorney to notify the court of the amount of the settlement, the attorneys fees, and costs related to the underlying litigation. The court will consider the petition and make any adjustments as necessary to the petition, before it approves the minors compromise. The purpose behind the requirement to file the petition is to protect the child’s interest and to make sure that the attorneys fee is reasonable in light of the work undertaken to obtain the result, and to further make sure that the money available to the minor is deposited into a bank account that cannot be accessed by an adult and cannot be accessed by the minor, until the minor turns 18. Unfortunately, there have been many instances of a parent or guardian taking a minor child's money and spending it on themselves, which is why Pennsylvania requires the filing of the petition. There are circumstances where money can be used from the settlement fund for the medical needs of the minor. Typically, this use of the funds would be approved by the court as part of the minor’s compromise petition.

Accordingly, if you are a parent pursuing a claim on behalf of your minor child, be aware that if a law firm presents you with a 40% contingency fee, it will most likely be reduced by the court, depending on the complexity of the case. For example, a court may not be inclined to reduce the fee in a medical malpractice case as much as in a car accident case, due to the varied complexity of pursuing such claims.