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44 N.D. L. Rev. 52 (1967-1968)
Settlement of Personal Injury Claims of Children

handle is hein.journals/nordak44 and id is 50 raw text is: SETTLEMENT OF PERSONAL INJURY CLAIMS OF CHILDREN LEONARD H. BUCKLIN* Most personal injury claims are not tried by a judge or a jury; most are settled. This is true whether the claimant is a child or an adult. There are many books today which tell how to obtain a more adequate settlement amount--or prevent the amount from becom- ing excessive. Our decision here assumes that the amount of the settlement has been agreed upon, this discussion starts at the point where the claimant's parents have said, we'll take what you offer to pay, and defendant's insurer has said, we'll pay if you give us a binding release that will end the controversy. If the amount of the settlement is small enough, as a prac- tical matter, there is no problem of how to accomplish the settle- ment. Lawyers are not usually involved. All insurance companies have some rule of thumb as to an amount they will pay without receiving anything more in return than a parents' indemnifying release. The parents' indemnifying release is simply a release of claims of the parents plus an indemnifying agreement, stat- ing that: if any suit is later brought by the child, the parents will indemnify and hold harmless the defendant. The maximum amount that an insurer will pay with no other protection than the parents' indemnifying release is generally in the neighborhood of $500 to $1000. When the amount to be paid is ' substantial, the defendant's representative will insist on some sort of court approval of the settlement. The purpose of the court approval is to prevent the minor from later disaffirming the contract of settlement and start- ing his claim over again. It is at this point-the point of court ap- proval-that judges and lawyers have wide differences of opinion as to the proper method of securing the desired judicial sanction of the settlement agreement. * B.S.L. 1955, L.L.B. 1957, University of Minnesota. Zuger, Zuger and Bucklin, Bismarck, North Dakota. Although the author has served as Chairman of the State Bar Association Committee on Procedure, this article does not reflect the views of the Committee or any other member of the Committee,

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