What Happens If Someone Makes a Personal Injury Claim Against Me?

When someone accuses you of causing bodily, mental, or reputational harm to them, you have several considerations ahead of you. Personal injury claims are rarely entirely unfounded, but they are often arguable. Notification of the lawsuit is your first indication to reach out to a personal injury defense attorney about how you should respond and what evidence you need to diminish your role in the accident.

What Is a Personal Injury Claim?

Personal injury covers a broad spectrum of claims primarily involving negligence and some cases of intentional harm. For example, some common personal injury claims include:

• Vehicle accidents. The largest portion of personal injury claims is for motor vehicle accidents, including single and multi-car accidents, truck accidents, motorcycle accidents, rear-end collisions, head-on collisions, sideswipe accidents, side-impact collisions, rollover accidents, and pedestrian accidents. If someone suffered an injury in a car accident you caused, your insurance must cover their damages. 
• Premises liability. Slip and fall accidents are a common form of premise liability cases. If someone slipped and fell on your property because you failed to remove a hazardous condition, they may sue you for damages. Of course, you could respond with a contributory negligence claim.
• Dog bite. You are likely responsible if someone filed a personal injury claim against you because your dog bit them. Dog bites fall under the rule of strict liability. However, if the person was trespassing on your property, you could have a solid response to their claim.
• Medical malpractice. Healthcare providers across all sections of the industry, from hospitals to nursing homes, must practice a high standard of medical care. If you are a healthcare professional accused of medical malpractice, speak with a personal injury defense attorney. These cases are often challenging for the plaintiff to prove.
• Wrongful death. When a personal injury accident results in the death of the injured, a member of their family can file a lawsuit requesting damages.

If someone makes a personal injury claim against you, you should seek legal counsel to help you build a defense. Ideally, you can at least minimize the damages you have to pay.

Potential Compensatory Damages

Damages is a term used to describe the financial compensation owed to a personal injury victim for the losses incurred in an accident caused by another person. The types of recoverable damages vary from case to case, but most personal injury cases have some variation of the following economic damages:

• The cost of current medical bills and any future treatments if the injury requires long-term recovery
• The total lost income as a result of missed work, lost benefits, and loss of earning capacity
• The cost of repairing or replacing property damaged in the accident, such as a vehicle in an auto accident case
• The cost of a funeral and burial or cremation for a deceased person in a wrongful death case
• All out-of-pocket expenses specific to the person’s injury, such as hiring help in the household or paying for transportation to medical visits

Compensatory damages also refer to non-economic losses, primarily negative changes to a person’s mental state. These include pain and suffering, disfigurement, loss of companionship or consortium, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment for life, and mental anguish. In addition, a diagnosis of anxiety, depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder could prove a change in mental state following the accident.

How Do You Respond to a Personal Injury Claim Against You?

When someone makes a personal injury claim against you, you first need to talk to your insurance company. Your insurer may hire a personal injury attorney for you, but if they do not, you should speak to one right away. Then, you have a set number of days to respond to their allegations and demands.

Denying the Allegations and Arguing Shared Fault

The most common defense in a personal injury case is to deny the plaintiff’s allegations. However, if you bear responsibility, you may state a claim of shared fault, alleging the plaintiff played a role in causing the accident. Every state has rules that govern shared fault in a personal injury case, and some are more strict than others. The rules for shared responsibility include:

• Contributory Negligence. Only a small number of states adhere to the contributory negligence rule. It affirms that if the plaintiff contributed to the accident in any way, they are not entitled to compensation. Therefore, if your attorney can prove the plaintiff was also negligent, you could avoid responsibility for any damages.
• Comparative Negligence. Most states follow the comparative negligence rule. According to this rule, the plaintiff is still able to recover damages. However, the court will deduct their percentage of fault from the total. Additionally, states specifically adhere to one or two types of comparative negligence, either modified or pure. Modified only allows compensation if the plaintiff is less than half at fault, and pure allows compensation at any percentage of fault less than 100%.

For example, if you live in a state that follows the modified comparative negligence rule, you could avoid paying any damages if you provide enough evidence to support a claim that the plaintiff’s portion of fault is more than yours.

Other Possible Defenses

The first thing an attorney will do when reading the plaintiff’s allegations and demands is look for areas where they can create doubt. For example, if the plaintiff waited an extended time to have a doctor examine their injuries, you could argue they were potentially sustained somewhere other than the accident. You may also argue mitigation of damages, which alleges the plaintiff’s delayed medical treatments worsened their condition, making them partially responsible for the damages.

Another common argument is that the plaintiff missed the deadline to file. Every type of personal injury lawsuit has a statute of limitations that allows only a strict period of time in which someone can file a lawsuit. In most cases, the statute is effective at the time of the accident, making the accident the start date. For example, most states set the statute of limitations for a car accident lawsuit around three years. However, a wrongful death suit following a car accident usually has a two-year deadline.

Does It Help Your Case To Hire a Personal Injury Attorney?

You typically have 30 days to respond to the plaintiff regarding allegations against you. During that time, a personal injury defense attorney can investigate the claim, discuss your role in the incident, and draft a response to the plaintiff with your counter-allegations. Of course, you can attempt to do those things on your own without representation. However, unless you have a legal degree and experience with personal injury defense, you may find it challenging to stand your ground during negotiations. If you cannot reach an agreement, you could end up in court. An attorney can help you avoid that long and costly process.

Our team of personal injury attorneys at Fielding Law will evaluate the claims against you and help you understand how the civil litigation process works. We will protect your rights and find holes in the plaintiff’s claim. As your legal team, our job is to protect your best interest at all times. Contact Fielding Law today for a free case evaluation, and we will help you figure out your rebuttal and start building your defense.