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In personal injury cases---as well as wrongful death cases---the parties often reach a settlement. That is, rather than take a case all the way to a jury, the plaintiff and defendant mutually agree to end the case in exchange for the defendant paying the plaintiff some measurement of money. Courts are not involved in this process, since the law presumes that adults are capable of making their own decisions. Once the settlement is reached, all the court knows is that the case was dismissed.
However, courts are very much involved when settlements concern minors. In order to make sure that the minor's parents, the attorneys, the insurance carrier, and all other parties involved have treated the child fairly, a special attorney called a "guardian ad litem" is appointed. This attorneys job is to review all the documents and the case files to make sure everything is on the up-and-up. Once everything gets their stamp of approval, then the matter is presented before the judge in a hearing called a "minor prove-up."
In this article, Texas personal injury attorney Michael Grossman explains what a minor prove-up is and how it works.
Questions answered on this page
Children cannot make financial decisions on their own, so their parents or legal guardians do it for them. When a child has suffered an injury or lost a parent, a lawsuit is filed on their behalf by the parent or guardian to try to recover money for them. Texas law mandates that anytime a settlement is entered that effects a child's interests, a judge approve or deny it. Judges are to hold a hearing in which they learn what the case was about, what dollar amount the settlement concerned, and how the monies are to be distributed to the children. Judges generally don't question the lawyers' individual decisions about how they prosecuted the case or how the judge would have done this or that differently.
Instead, the judge will make sure of three main things:
As noted above, the parent/guardian of the child will be called as a witness. You're not "on trial" here---no one's going to call you a liar or anything like you've seen on TV. Instead, you'll simply be asked some standard questions about the case and whether you want the judge to approve the settlement for the child. Your lawyer will do all the heavy-lifting for you. The process takes about 30 minutes at the most, and then you're on your way.
When your children's future is at stake, you need to choose a lawyer with your child's best interests at heart. Grossman Law Offices in Dallas, TX have been honored to represent countless children before Texas courts for 25 years. Let us put that experience to work for your family. Call us today at (855) 326-0000 for a free consultation on how we can help you.
Related Articles for Further Reading:
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An overview of “vicarious liability” under Texas law: In the normal personal injury scenario, person A acts negligently and injures person B. Under those circumstances, it’s very clear who the wrongdoer is, and the victim has a very straightforward claim against the wrongdoer and only the wrongdoer. But not every accident is so straight-forward. In…
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