3 Factors You Must Have To File A Personal Injury Lawsuit
If you have been the victim of some sort of accident, you might be wondering if you should file a personal injury lawsuit. Personal injury lawsuits are filed everyday, but that doesn't mean all of them are merited. Instead, it is important that, before you file a lawsuit, that you can prove that there actually was negligence and that you are owed money for your troubles. Here are a couple factors that must be present for a personal injury lawsuit of negligence.
1. The Defendant Had A Duty To The Plaintiff
Before you can file a personal injury lawsuit, you have to prove that the defendant, the person you are planning on suing, had some sort of duty to you. This means that there had to be some sort of relationship where you trusted the defendant to act a certain way.
For example, if a person were shoveling gravel on public property and hit a passerby with the shovel, a judge would most likely determine that the person with the shovel had a duty to be sure no one was a around them. However, if the person were on their own private property, and they accidentally struck a person with the shovel who was trespassing, the judge may find that the defendant had no duty to the individual.
2. The Plaintiff Had To Be Innocent In The Accident
In order to have a good personal injury lawsuit, the plaintiff should not be at fault for the accident; this is called proximate cause. For example, if you are filing a lawsuit against an individual for hitting you with a shovel on public property, it needs to be proven that you did what you could to prevent the accident. If the area was labeled to stay away, if you could easily see that there was a person working, or if a reasonable person would have moved, you may not have grounds for suing the individual, since you are partly to blame.
3. The Plaintiff Has To Have Injuries
Say that there was an accident where you can prove that the defendant had a duty to the plaintiff and that the plaintiff was not at fault, the plaintiff still needs to have injuries. In order to file a lawsuit, there has to be damages. This means that there needs to be some sort of monetary way to determine how much emotional, and physical suffering was inflicted because of the accident. If there were no injuries, then there is no reason to file a lawsuit.
These are just three things that you need to file a personal injury lawsuit.
For professional legal help, contact an office such as Law Office Of John J Barrow.