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Negligence of Children Depends Upon Their Age

by trayne

The law in Pennsylvania has special provisions about when
children can be held responsible for their negligence
(carelessness resulting in harm to another or themselves).  Under
certain circumstances, children are held incapable of negligence
and, in others, they have to take legal responsibility for their
careless acts.

A special rule applies when someone attempts to sue a child for
negligence and when someone tries to defend a negligence lawsuit
brought on behalf of an injured child by claiming that the child
was guilty of negligence that contributed to causing the child's
injuries (contributory negligence).  The rule is age-based and
the rationale behind it is that, below a certain age, children
should be assumed to be incapable of guarding against danger, but
as children get older, they are capable of being more careful.

Pennsylvania law conclusively presumes that a child under 7
years old is incapable of negligence.  So, a child under the age
of 7 cannot be held legally liable for negligent acts and someone
defending a case brought by an injured child under the age of 7
cannot defend the case using an argument that the child was
guilty of contributory negligence.

At age 14, children are presumed to be capable of negligence and
can be held liable for the actions unless it can be proven that,
for some reason, such as lack of intelligence or experience, it
would unfair to hold a child liable.

Children between the ages of 7 and 14 must be looked at on a
case-by-case basis to determine whether or not they exercised
care consistent with an average child of the same age,
intelligence and experience.  Between the ages of 7 and 14, as a
child gets older, it is more likely that he or she will be held
responsible for negligence.

The law does not judge children by adult standards, such that
even a 15, 16 or 17 year old will not be expected to exercise the
care of an adult because children of such ages do not have the
experience and wisdom of adults.  Instead, children are required
to exercise the care of an average child of the same age,
intelligence and experience, and will be held negligent only if
their conduct falls below that standard.

In Pennsylvania, children are considered adults at age 18 and,
at that time, can be held liable for negligence or contributory
negligence.  However, prior to age 18, these special rules must
be applied to determine whether or not a child can be held
responsible for careless actions.

Tim Rayne is the author of numerous publications on Personal
Injury Law and is a graduate of the Temple University Beasley
School of Law's Master's in Trial Advocacy Program. Tim can be
reached at http://www.macelree.com/traynelaw.

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