Child injured in Central Expressway: why the standard of care is different

FOX 4 reported a collision in which a child was hurt on Central Expressway in Dallas on January 1, 2026. Someone was hurt. We had no involvement in it and we are not going to speculate about the facts. What we can do is set out the legal questions an incident of this kind raises in Texas, because families dealing with one are usually working it out from scratch at the worst possible moment.

Cases involving children are analysed differently

Texas does not hold a young child to an adult’s standard of care. What counts as ordinary caution for an adult is not the measure applied to a child, and very young children may not be capable of negligence at all as a matter of law.

That matters because the reflexive argument in these cases — that the child ran out, or was not being watched — carries far less weight than the person making it usually assumes.

Where the duty sits

• Drivers, who are expected to anticipate children near schools, parks, residential streets and stopped buses, and to moderate speed accordingly.
• Property owners, under doctrines that address hazards attractive to children who cannot appreciate the danger — pools, equipment, unsecured structures.
• Schools and districts, where supervision or transportation is at issue, subject to governmental immunity limits.

Deadlines work differently too

Limitations periods for a minor’s own claim are generally tolled — the clock does not run in the usual way while the injured person is a child. But this exception is narrower than families assume, and it does not extend the separate claims parents may hold, nor does it extend the short notice deadlines that apply when a governmental entity is involved.

Settlements for a child are supervised

A minor’s settlement generally requires court approval, and funds are protected rather than handed over. That is a safeguard, not an obstacle, and it is one reason these cases are not resolved over the phone.

What a claim can actually include

Attention goes to the bills already received, because those are knowable. They are usually the smallest component.

• Future medical care, including further surgery or long-term treatment
• Lost earning capacity — not lost wages, but the gap between what you could have earned and what you can earn now
• Physical impairment, for what you can no longer do
• Disfigurement, where scarring is permanent
• Pain, suffering and mental anguish
• Household services now performed by someone else

Health insurers, hospitals and government programmes may also assert reimbursement rights against any recovery. Negotiating those down is part of what determines how much a family actually keeps.

Fault is a percentage, and one number ends the case

Texas divides responsibility across everyone who contributed. Recovery is reduced by the injured person’s share, and eliminated entirely if that share exceeds 50 percent.

That arithmetic is why some portion of blame gets attached to the injured person in nearly every claim, including ones where liability looks settled. It is not an opinion an adjuster holds; it is a strategy with a defined financial payoff.

It is answered with evidence rather than argument — vehicle data, damage geometry, sight-line measurement, signal timing, independent witnesses, and reconstruction where the numbers are genuinely in dispute.

What to do now

• Get medical attention and keep going — gaps in treatment become the argument that something else caused the injury.
• Ask that any vehicle involved not be repaired or sold until it has been inspected.
• Write down who stopped, what they saw, and anything said at the scene.
• Decline a recorded statement to the other side’s insurer until you have advice.
• Keep every document in one place: the report number, bills, mileage, days missed.

Reporting that prompted this post

We write about incidents reported in the local press to explain the legal questions they raise. We don’t represent anyone involved unless we say so.

• Dallas crash: Teen critically injured, one arrested after multi-vehicle New Year's Day wreck (FOX 4)

Our Garland personal injury attorneys handle matters like this every day. The case review is free.