If you have been injured in an accident and are now thinking of filing a personal injury lawsuit, you may need to know what rights you have and how to make them work for you. If you are the defendant in the case, and someone is blaming you for the injuries they received in an accident you were involved in, you will want to know what your rights are as a defendant and how to better represent yourself in your case. There are two reasons why the defense will argue in a personal injury case:
#1: Role of the plaintiff in the accident, if any
#2: What the injury victim that is filing the claim, did not do after the injuries occurred, such as get proper medical treatment or file a lawsuit in the proper amount of time.
Defenses Based on Plaintiff’s Role in the Accident
Once an injury lawsuit is filed, the injury lawyer representing the party that filed a lawsuit will begin working on the case. To do this, they will contact witnesses, insurance companies, police, hospitals, and everyone else involved in the accident. The first argument will most likely be from the plaintiff and they will most likely admit that the accident was no fault of their own.
If you are the one that filed a lawsuit but you also have some responsibility to the accident occurring, the compensation that is awarded to you may reflect this. While this most of the time happens early in the case, it can make the case last longer when this information doesn’t surface and is then brought up later on.
If the award is affected by your fault, then comparative negligence will be the standard followed. For this, the judge awarding the case will list your part of the case in a percentage so for example, you could be found to be 25% at fault.
Comparative Negligence
Most states will recognize comparative negligence as a general rule in personal injury cases. This will help to determine how much a percentage would be considered your fault and how much goes to the other party. Your injury lawyer in Sherwood Park will discuss the issues with you and help you win the claim.
Contributory Negligence
The comparative negligence laws can decrease the amount that the victim is awarded in a case that they may have some responsibility in. Contributory negligence allows the victims to share a degree of fault for the accident and injuries incurred and cannot qualify for any type of compensation because of it.
Assumption of Risk
In some cases of personal injury claims, a defendant may be faced with a type of lawsuit that will argue that the injured person simply assumes the risk of becoming injured by participating in an activity that they know comes with great risk of being dangerous. This may include a game of football or basketball or being injured, while you watch a game.