Legal Question in Personal Injury in Wisconsin

Re: accident on private property

What you should do, in my opinion, depends upon whether you think your son's injury is concerning, or not. Wisconsin law requires a judge to approve settlements made on behalf of children in order for a settlement to be binding upon the child. A lawyer must act as a guardian ad litem for the child in such a situation. If a settlement is made without court approval, an argument could be made that the settlement is not binding on your son and he might be able to come back at a later date to try to get additional compensation if his injury turns out to be worse than everyone now thinks it is. Again, depending upon whether you think your son's injury might turn out to be serious, it may not be a good idea to settle directly with the business owner. If your son's injury turned out to be more serious than you think and if your son were to try to recover additional compensation, the insurance company might say that the business owner failed to give notice of the accident to the insurance company so that the insurance company might deny coverage for the claim. Otherwise, if you are satisfied that your son's claim is not serious, you may go ahead and settle with the company, putting aside your son's part of the settlement in an interest-bearing bank account. That money will have to be preserved and then turned over, with the interest, to your son when he turns 18 years old. The safest thing for you to do, of course, would be to talk with a lawyer about the situation.