KINGSTON – Attorney Joseph Quinn and his firm have made millions of dollars in lawsuits they’ve filed on behalf of dead or injured children over the years.

He hopes to see less of those suits in the coming years.

Quinn and his firm on Tuesday took what they hope is the first of many steps to keep children out of harm’s way.

The firm on Tuesday officially initiated the Hourigan, Kluger and Quinn PC, Foundation for Children’s Advocacy (HKQ Kids) by donating $200,000 to the organization.

The organization will use a number of methods, through public awareness and advocacy, to promote safety for local children.

“It is our fervent hope that the work of HKQ Kids will be a force for positive change in our community and help prevent the kinds of horrible tragedies we have witnessed as lawyers who represent injured people,” Quinn said.

The donation was made to the Luzerne Foundation, which will promote and provide financial oversight for HKQ Kids.

The organization’s first program is set for next week, Quinn said.

That’s when HKQ Kids will be partnering with U.S. Public Interest Group to promote its annual report called “Trouble in Toyland.” The report outlines potential hazards with certain toys.

Quinn hopes the information will be helpful for parents buying toys during the upcoming holiday shopping season.

HKQ Kids will also be hiring a playground expert in 2006 to prepare a “report card on the safety of public playgrounds” in the county, Quinn said.

The safety organization was sparked by a recent medical malpractice case Quinn’s firm handled.

The firm earlier this year secured an $11 million settlement for William and Tukishia Bobbett in a suit the couple filed against Mercy Hospital, some of its nurses, and two doctors.

The Bobbetts’ 4-year-old son, Torajee, died after spending 10 hours at the Wilkes-Barre hospital in July 2001. He was taken there after vomiting all day. But, in the 10 hours at the hospital, the staff never properly diagnosed the boy’s bowel obstruction. That led to the boy never receiving treatment for the problem. He suffered cardiac arrest and irreversible brain damage, which resulted in his death.

Although that case was the “touchstone” for HKQ Kids, Quinn said all prior cases the firm has handled involving children played a considerable role in the firm’s desire to start the program.

“The fewer number of these cases that come through our door, the better we are as a community,” Quinn said Tuesday, as he was flanked by a number of attorneys from his firm and Charles Barber, CEO of the Luzerne Foundation.