How young is too young?

Trolling around wordpress.com tonight as sleep escapes me, I stumbled upon a quite interesting story; A four year being sued for negligence. With piqued interest and a raised brow, I clicked on the blog to read further (thank you Bikes Can Work!).  After that, I clicked on the NY Times article to read a little further.  The entire story is quite astonishing.

In April of 2009, two four year old children (Juliet Breitman & Jacob Kohn) were racing their training wheel-clad bicycles down a sidewalk near their Manhattan homes, “supervised” by mothers Dana and Rachel.  Juliet crashed her bike into a 87 year old woman, Claire Menagh, who sustained severe injuries, including a hip fracture and necessary surgery.  Menagh passed away three months later, due to unrelated causes, and her estate filed a lawsuit against the four year old, citing negligent behavior during the accident.

The gist of the story is that Justice Paul Wooten of State Supreme Court in Manhattan has recently ruled that the lawsuit is viable, as children over the age of four years are capable of negligent behavior (children under four are legally incapable of negligence in the state of NY), though that does not mean that the girl will be liable for the accident.

Which brings me back to the question;  how young is too young?  I understand the need for a legal restriction as to the age of negligence, but really?  Suing a four year old girl?  Menagh passed away of unrelated causes, and there is no need to try and ruin the rest of this little girl’s life (though the process & scarring has already begun).  If anything, one should be suing the mother(s).  I admit that I am not a parent, and I know little of what difficulties accompany a four year old, but when your children are playing on a public sidewalk, be cautious & very courteous.  Watch your children, watch out for the elderly, and don’t ever let “It’s just New York” be a viable excuse for this behavior.