NY judge rules 4 year old can be sued for negligence

In a surprising ruling, the New York Times has reported that a judge presiding over the State Supreme Court in Manhattan has ruled that a 4 year old girl accused of running down an elderly woman while racing a bicycle with training wheels on a Manhattan sidewalk two years ago can be sued for negligence..The report goes on to state that in April 2009, Juliet Breitman and Jacob Kohn, who were both 4, were racing their bicycles, under the supervision of their mothers. At some point in the race, they struck an 87-year-old woman named Claire Menagh, who was walking in front of the building and, according to the complaint, was seriously and severely injured, suffering a hip fracture that required surgery..The estate of the elderly woman who died due to unrelated causes after the accident decided to pursue the case. A lawyer for the little girl had argued that courts have held that an infant under the age of 4 is conclusively presumed to be incapable of negligence. But Justice Paul Wooten while agreeing with the lawyer stated, “Juliet Breitman, however, was over the age of 4 at the time of the subject incident. For infants above the age of 4, there is no bright-line rule.”.The suit which also sought to place negligence charges on the mother of the minor offender was rejected. Jutice Wooten went on to state, “There was no evidence of Juliet’s lack of intelligence or maturity or anything to indicate that another child of similar age and capacity under the circumstances could not have reasonably appreciated the danger of riding a bicycle into an elderly woman.”