New Safety Regulations To Prevent Children Falling Out Of Windows

Attorney Wayne Parsons | 808-201-2277 | Free Consult

"In 2015, we started this quest to change the building codes so that [Evan English’s story] wouldn’t happen to other people."

More than 15,000 children fall out of windows every year in the United States. A recent law, Evan’s Law, aims to strengthen the regulations to prevent children falling out of windows.

Wayne Parsons is a personal injury attorney with Wayne Parsons Law Office in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. In this video, he explains the new regulations around Evan’s Law, how he helped a family seek justice after the loss of their child to this type of injury, how it compelled him to push for stronger enforcement of these laws, and what you can do if you find yourself faced with a similar situation.

To learn more, contact the attorney directly by calling 808-201-2277 or by submitting a contact form on this page. There is no charge for the consultation, and you never owe any out-of-pocket attorney fees.

Key Takeaways From Wayne Parsons:

Evan English lived with his family in military housing in Honolulu. While playing with friends, 4-year-old Evan and his 6-year-old brother were able to climb up onto the windowsill of their upstairs bedroom window, says Parsons, even though the window had been locked and their parents had removed objects from the room that might assist them in climbing out.

Evan’s passing was a turning point for himself and Evan’s family in realizing the potential danger of falling-related injuries.

As Evan was yelling down to a friend standing outside, he pushed on the window’s window screen, which fell out of the frame. Evan lost his balance and fell from the window a few seconds later. He hit his head on the ground below, and a couple of days later, he passed away due to the injuries.

Alleging that the window screen was faulty, Evan’s family filed a lawsuit against both the home builder and against the United States government (due to the housing being owned by and managed by them). They contacted Parsons to serve as their lawyer and requested that, regardless of the outcome of the lawsuit, he help them create stronger laws and regulations to minimize the risk of what happened to Evan also happening to other children.

The English family sought to change building codes so that faulty housing features would be more strictly controlled and enforced.

Because of Evan’s passing, the English family realized the dangers and failures that had a hand in contributing to his death—and how those failures could be monitored and remedied to prevent further injuries or death.

By changing building codes and reinforcing the expectation of housing safety, the English family knew that it could help prevent further tragedies from happening to children. Wayne Parsons, through his research with the family, realized that what happened to Evan was not an isolated incident. Parsons says that almost 50,000 children fall from windows each year in the United States, and there are 1.2 million children who are dependents of military parents. Because military housing is owned by a larger, often remote group or organization, it does not have some of the features of a private residence—such as an owner regularly checking for problems or areas that may need to be fixed.

In addition, the dangers of children falling out of windows are fairly unknown. While much attention is focused on keeping children safe from other dangers like speeding cars, there is not a large amount of awareness around the danger of windows and window screens, and the ways in which they can be dangerous even for older children.

Parsons and the English family seek to raise this awareness and ensure that window safety becomes more commonly checked and given greater protections and precautions. They also seek to make other families aware of these potential dangerous blind spots. With Evan’s Law strengthening housing codes and spreading advocacy, it is possible that the efforts of Parsons and the English family will be able to protect children in the future.

To learn more, contact the attorney directly by calling 808-201-2277 or by submitting a contact form on this page. There is no charge for the consultation, and you never owe any out-of-pocket attorney fees.

Disclaimer: This video is for informational purposes only. In some states, this video may be deemed Attorney Advertising. The choice of lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely on advertisements.