personal injury suffered in a hospital

Posted on: 13 December 2019

As the victim of a sexual assault, you may be entitled to damages depending on the nature of the attack and the specific injuries you have suffered. Here are some critical things you should know before instigating such a claim or lawsuit.

Multiple Legal Theories

You will need an appropriate legal theory on which to anchor your claim. Here are a couple of the legal principles you may use, depending on your circumstances.

• Intentional conduct — A claim under this claim is possible if the defendant's actions were intentional.
• Negligence — Negligence may apply if someone made a mistake that permitted the attacker to assault you. An example if an institution's lax policies allowed a staff member to assault you.

Damages Collection Complicated

The collection of damages in sexual assault cases tend to be complicated. Ordinarily, personal injury plaintiffs collect damages from relevant insurance companies after winning their cases. However, an insurance company won't settle your damages if their client's actions were intentional or too reckless.

In such a case, you will have to go after the defendant's assets. You might be forced to file a separate lawsuit to collect your damages after winning the case. Fortunately, that should not be too difficult to do if you have an attorney and the defendant does have valuable assets.

Possible Multiple Defendants

Just like in other forms of injury cases, your sexual assault might have more than one defendant. For example, if another party (might be an individual or an institution) created the environment in which you were attacked, then that party might also be responsible for your damages.

An example is if an employer has an environment that enables sexual attacks (for example, if the employer does not act on reports of sexual harassment). In such a case, both the employer and the individual attacker might be liable for your damages.

Lower Standard of Proof

A sexual assault can trigger both a criminal case and a civil case; however, the civil case will have a lower standard of proof than the criminal case. This is because a criminal case requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt while, for the civil cause, you just need to show that your claims are more likely than not to have happened. This means you may win your civil case even if the defendant is acquitted in the criminal case.

Money might not be adequate compensation for your sexual assault injuries, but it is better than nothing. Consult a personal injury lawyer to help you pursue the damages you deserve.