Defenses Used In Various Personal Injury Cases

Every defendant has the right to hire an Injury Lawyer in Collingwood, or to use the one provided by an insurance company. The lawyer’s experience should ensure introduction of a reasonable defense. In a courtroom, if the defense were stronger than the argument made by the plaintiff’s lawyer, then the defendant might manage to win the case.

Comparative negligence: That is a defense that gets used repeatedly in most states. According to the principle of comparative negligence, if the victim contributed in any way to occurrence of the accident, or to creation of the reported injury, then the victim’s compensation would be lowered, in relation to the extent of the victim’s contribution.

Some states follow the rules for a modified comparative negligence. According to those rules, reduction of the compensation only takes place in cases where the victim has contributed to less than 50% of the factors that caused the accident. Victims that added to more than 50% of the factors that caused the same accident should not receive any compensation.

Contributory negligence: Only about one half-dozen states adhere to the principle of contributory negligence. That denies any form of compensation to a victim that has made even the smallest contribution to occurrence of a given accident, or to creation of a specific injury.

Failure to meet the deadline: Someone that hopes to initiate a lawsuit must submit a complaint to the appropriate court. Submission of that complaint must take place before the deadline, which has been stated in the state’s statute of limitations.

If a complaint gets submitted to the wrong courthouse, then the courthouse staff refuses to accept it. In that way, courts manage to control the validity of the charges that have been made by a given plaintiff. Those with an invalid charge lose their chance at pursuing a lawsuit.

Failure to mitigate the damages: Mitigation of damages normally refers to those measures that should work to limit any further damage to a victim’s accident-linked injury. A victim’s failure to visit a doctor’s office, a hospital emergency room or a clinic in the 24-hour period that has followed a harmful incident would count as a lack of readiness to mitigate the effects of any injury. A defense team could point to the victim’s earlier actions, and allege that such actions had destroyed or weakened the plaintiff’s case.

Assumption of risk: A defense attorney might use the assumption of risk as a defensive strategy. It can be applied in a situation where the plaintiff has suffered physical harm, while engaged in a risky activity. A defense attorney would seek to show that the plaintiff had recognized and accepted the risks that were associated with his or her chosen activity.