If you are charged as the guilty party of a personal injury lawsuit, is there anything you can do? Some people seem to think that defendants just roll over and pay all of their hard-earned cash to someone else. Thankfully, there are many different defense strategies that could save you tons of money. Here are a few things you and your personal injury lawyer should look into together.
Shared Guilt
There are several different ways that states handle the idea of shared guilt. For example, some states will not award any compensation to someone who has 50% or more than the blame in their case. Others will allow them to collect all of their winnings, except for the percentage for which they are at blame. A common defense that you should strive for is to show that the other person in your case shares or carries more of the guilt in the case than you do.
Exaggerated Injuries
A common problem with personal injury cases is that people will over-exaggerate their injuries in an effort to get paid more in recompense. Obviously, it is necessary for plaintiffs to prove their illnesses and injuries through the reports of medical doctors. If you feel that the opposite party of a personal injury case may be inflating their story with phony or exaggerated health problems, it is possible to seek a second opinion from an unbiased doctor.
No Duty of Care
The whole reason that someone sues another person is because they felt that someone had a duty to them, and that duty was not met. However, if there was not a duty, you are not responsible for what happened to them. In order to defend yourself you will need to prove that you did not have a duty of care for the plaintiff. For example, if the patient of a doctor slips and falls in the parking lot of his/her office, they may try to sue the doctor for not having their parking lot free of snow. If the doctor can prove that they had taken the proper precautions by hiring an individual to scrape the parking lot, and that person did not do their job, the case will have been won.
In conclusion, your design as the defendant is to prove that the accident and sustained injuries were not entirely (or at all) your fault. There are many ways to go about it, so you should probably discuss your options with a personal injury lawyer, like those at The Bregman Law Firm, P.C.
Sadly, many people are injured due to someone else's negligence. Maybe you were in a car accident that was the other driver's fault, and now you're dealing with relentless back pain. Or perhaps your neighbor's dog bit you, and you're considering suing them. Both of these scenarios fall under the legal umbrella of personal injury law.
Since proving someone else is responsible for your injuries can be challenging, the world of personal injury law is a vast one. Your own attorney is your best source of information directly related to your own case, but we created this website to give you a good basic overview of what your personal injury case may entail — and what you can expect when you meet with your attorney. Dig in and start reading our articles; you'll soon feel more informed as to what's to come.