Let’s be honest. Sometimes, life sucks. A young mother of two who is crossing the street gets hit by a drunk driver, paralyzing her for life. The medication a doctor prescribes a patient has serious side effects and results in a man committing suicide. A vicious dog, unprovoked, mauls a young child and scars her physically and emotionally for life. When terrible things like these happen to innocent victims, sometimes there is no way to completely recover and get back to “normal”. And in some countries, the victims (and their families) are left with no recourse at all. Fortunately in the United States, people can file a personal injury lawsuit (or in some cases a wrongful death lawsuit) and get financial compensation for the devastation that was caused. When filing a personal injury lawsuit, people are claiming compensation for an injury which they have suffered through no fault of their own. Here are three of the most common reasons you may wish to file a personal injury lawsuit.
1. You Want the Guilty Party to Accept Responsibility
In many circumstances you may be filing a lawsuit for one simple reason: you want the person or company responsible for your injury to accept responsibility for what happened or that their lack of action caused it. This is the impetus for many who file a lawsuit not for financial gain or recompense, but someone to accept that what happened was their fault and their responsibility. For example, in a car injury claim, you are not only seeking financial compensation for the damage but you are asking the other party to accept that they were the cause of the accident for your own insurance purposes, for peace of mind yourself that you did nothing dangerous and to prove to yourself the situation arose from someone else’s actions and had nothing to do with your own. This peace of mind is an important thing when filing a lawsuit.
2. You’ve Suffered Financial Loss and You Need Compensation
When petitioning a personal injury lawsuit you are often seeking not only the other party accepting responsibility for the accident or incident, but that they reimburse you for any financial losses which have occurred as a direct consequence of their actions. This is not limited to damage which comes as a direct consequence of the accident or incident, it covers a whole host of things which may not be obvious. These include any damage to your property, the cost of any medical treatment as a result of the incident, any loss of income due to missed work, the cost of your attorney and the cost of any affiliated expenses such as increased childcare or travel for treatment etc. If you are filing a lawsuit for an incident that isn’t your fault, you should not be left out of pocket.
3. You Have Ongoing Needs
If an incident or accident has left you needing ongoing support or care, this should be met by the other side. Your continued wellbeing should be taken into account in any settlement, with the above list of things you may claim for initially. Not only this, it should also cover any legacy issues which occur such as; any support you will need, any help you need to get back to your previous level of physical or mental wellbeing or even simple things such as childcare costs.
These are common factors which make people file a personal injury lawsuit, as well as a host of other reasons. If you are considering a claim, independent legal advice will help structure the reasons and the claim itself.
