She might have been too young to go to school, but a judge says a New York City girl is old enough to be sued over a bicycle accident that happened when she was four.

The Manhattan judge refused earlier this month to dismiss negligence claims against Juliet Breitman.

The child, her mother and others are being sued by the estate of a woman who said she was severely hurt when hit by bicycles that Juliet and a boy were racing down a pavement last April.

The woman, Claire Menagh, died later that year.

The judge said there was no evidence a child of Juliet's age - then three months from her fifth birthday - could not appreciate "the danger of riding a bicycle into an elderly woman".