4-Year-Old Can Be Sued For Negligence For Accidentally Hitting Woman While Riding Bike.

                                 By: Don Caldwell


Sometimes you just know that things have gone too far, legal or not.


Excerpts Italicized:


Citing cases dating back as far as 1928, a judge has ruled that a young girl accused of running down an elderly woman while racing a bicycle with training wheels on a Manhattan sidewalk two years ago can be sued for negligence.


The ruling by the judge, Justice Paul Wooten of State Supreme Court in Manhattan, did not find that the girl was liable, but merely permitted a lawsuit brought against her, another boy and their parents to move forward.


The suit that Justice Wooten allowed to proceed claims that in April 2009, Juliet Breitman and Jacob Kohn, who were both 4, were racing their bicycles, under the supervision of their mothers, Dana Breitman and Rachel Kohn, on the sidewalk of a building on East 52nd Street. At some point in the race, they struck an 87-year-old woman named Claire Menagh, who was walking in front of the building and, according to the complaint, was “seriously and severely injured,” suffering a hip fracture that required surgery. She died three months later of unrelated causes.


Her estate sued the children and their mothers, claiming they had acted negligently during the accident. In a response, Juliet’s lawyer, James P. Tyrie, argued that the girl was not “engaged in an adult activity” at the time of the accident — 
“She was riding her bicycle with training wheels under the supervision of her mother” — and was too young to be held liable for negligence.


In legal papers, Mr. Tyrie added, “Courts have held that an infant under the age of 4 is conclusively presumed to be incapable of negligence.”


But Justice Wooten declined to stretch that rule to children over 4. On Oct. 1, he rejected a motion to dismiss the case because of Juliet’s age, noting that she was three months shy of turning 5 when Ms. Menagh was struck, and thus old enough to be sued.


Mr. Tyrie “correctly notes that infants under the age of 4 are conclusively presumed incapable of negligence,” Justice Wooten wrote in his decision, referring to the 1928 case. “Juliet Breitman, however, was over the age of 4 at the time of the subject incident. For infants above the age of 4, there is no bright-line rule.”


“A parent’s presence alone does not give a reasonable child carte blanche to engage in risky behavior such as running across a street,” the judge wrote. He added that any “reasonably prudent child,” who presumably has been told to look both ways before crossing a street, should know that dashing out without looking is dangerous, with or without a parent there. The crucial factor is whether the parent encourages the risky behavior; if so, the child should not be held accountable.


Are individuals responsible for their actions? At what age are we responsible for our own actions? Should different standards be held for small children? Is a 4 year old girl at criminally negligent for hitting someone as she raced across the stet? Is she CRIMINALLY at fault? We allow minors to get away with murder, attempted murder, and any number of other crimes. Should we, as a people, condone this? Given how much trouble our kids can get into / cause, would we think twice about letting them go outside if they / we could be sued for it? Is this about justice or about money? Just because it is the law does not mean that it is moral and just.

(ORIGINAL LINK) 4-Year-Old Can Be Sued, Judge Rules in Bike Case - NYTimes.com