New York child injury settlements often land anywhere from the five figures into six or seven figures, depending on the damage. Your coworker is only half right. For a private-party injury claim, a child's statute of limitations is usually tolled until age 18, which often means the lawsuit deadline runs until age 21. But that rule will burn you if the defendant is a school, daycare run by a municipality, the City of New York, the MTA, or another public entity. In those cases, a Notice of Claim is usually due in 90 days, and the parent or guardian has to get that started. Miss that, and the "wait until 21" idea becomes useless.

Here is the part people leave out. A minor does not file alone; a parent or court-appointed guardian brings the claim on the child's behalf. And if the case settles, New York usually requires court approval for a minor's settlement. The money does not just get handed over in Queens because an adjuster emailed a release. Judges want to know the amount is fair and where the funds are going.

If your child's new injury made a pre-existing condition worse, that still counts. New York follows the basic rule that the defendant takes the victim as found. If a winter crash on the Van Wyck, Belt Parkway, or Long Island Expressway turned a manageable condition into surgeries, rehab, or a trip to Bellevue, NYU Langone, or Jacobi, the claim is about the aggravation, not some fake argument that the child was "already injured."

If a public school, DOE bus, city vehicle, or municipal daycare is involved in Queens, think 90 days, not 21 years old. That is the trap.