The elements of a personal injury case, a strong one for that matter, are liability, damages, and collectability. If one of these three items are missing from the case than it more than likely won’t win in a court of law or in mediation or arbitration. In fact, anyone looking to file a personal injury lawsuit shouldn’t file the lawsuit if one of the three items mentioned above aren’t present. Liability is defined as an action committed by a defendant or group of defendants that is recognized by the law as being wrong. Liability examples include running a stop sign, manufacturing a defective product, or not providing specific warnings on drugs. Liability is the hardest item to prove in a personal injury case and each state has its own statute of limitations regarding when a lawsuit can be filed. A personal injury case will not hold up in court if there are no damages present as a result of the accident. Damages that are accepted in a personal injury case include medical expenses, loss of wages, punitive damages, wrongful death damages, costs of court, attorney’s fees, physical impairment, mental anguish, physical pain, disfigurement and loss of consortium. A court of law will recognize damages that occurred before the trial and ones that will occur in the future, such as continued loss of wages.
The third element of a strong personal injury case is collectability. Collectability is defined as the defendant in the case making good on the judgment that has been handed down by the judge presiding over the case. A judgment can include a lump sum of money owed to the plaintiff, services performed as compensation, or another method of payment. In a majority of cases, a plaintiff will not be able to collect on the judgment because the defendant does not have enough money at the time of the judgment to pay the plaintiff. Some states will allow a judgment to accrue interest until it is paid off completely. This in turn will give the plaintiff more money once the final amount is paid off.
If one or more of the above items is missing from a personal injury case then it will not hold up in a court of law or even in mediation or arbitration meetings. An attorney will advise his or her client against filing a personal injury lawsuit if collectability isn’t present of if the plaintiff will have trouble proving liability of the defendant in the case.
