A little girl and boy were racing their bikes on a Manhattan sidewalk. The 4-year-old children struck an elderly woman.  The 87-year-old suffered a hip fracture.  The woman later died of unrelated causes. The elderly woman's estate sued the children and their mothers for negligence.

Mr. Tyrie “correctly notes that infants under the age of 4 are conclusively presumed incapable of negligence,” Justice Wooten wrote in his decision, referring to the 1928 case. “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.”

Justice Wooten has ruled not that the children were negligent, but that 4-year-old children are legally capable of negligence.  Moreover, being under the watchful eye of an adult does not diminish their accountability.

Alan Feuer of The New York Times has more: Link