2 Things That Are Important To Know About Personal Injury Lawsuits
Posted on: 20 April 2017
If you have been wronged by someone you might be able to file a personal injury lawsuit against them. Many people have erroneous ideas about personal injury lawsuits and because of it, either don't file a lawsuit, or when they do file the suit, they are surprised at the outcome because they weren't properly prepared. Here are some things that you need to know about filing a personal injury lawsuit.
1. Personal Injury Lawsuits Are A Part of Civil Court, Not Criminal Court
Many times when a personal injury grievance is committed it also can be considered a criminal offense. For instance, if you are in a car accident and the person who was driving was intoxicated, they will probably face some criminal charges for their actions. You might think that because they were charged with criminal charges that you don't need to file a personal injury lawsuit. That is not the case. Criminal court is entirely different than civil court. Criminal court is governed by the state. The state will press charges against the person and if they are found guilty of the charge, they will serve time in prison, pay fines to the state, or be punished by the state. They will not owe the people they hurt anything.
Thus, you must file a personal injury lawsuit in civil court, which is where people file grievances against each other, and it will be decided if you get any money from the person who hurt you.
2. You Can Only Get The Amount Of Money That Correlates With Your Injuries
If you have been hurt, you might think that you are entitled to a great deal of money to punish the other party. Personal injury lawsuits generally don't try to punish the other party who acted in bad faith, instead, it is just about restoring the damages from the injuries caused. Thus, if you were in a car accident you would need to calculate all of the injuries that are real and that were caused by the accident. If you had to have surgery you could include the costs of that into your lawsuit. You could include lost wages, lost property and so forth. Although you can get money for pain and suffering, the amount must be reasonable to your injuries. Everything that you asked for has to be proven.
By understanding these things you can better determine what to do with a possible personal injury lawsuit. For more information, talk to a professional like Downs, McDonough & Cowan LLC.
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