Defenses You Can Expect In Your Injury Case
When you have a personal injury case, especially one that seems like the other person or business was careless and caused your injuries, it often seems like it is an easy case, and compensation is surely coming your way.
But Defendants in these kinds of cases, have clever ways of defending these cases–using defenses that you may not think of. And while many of these defenses may be false, or have no truth behind them, and while a good personal injury attorney knows how to fight against these defenses, the Defendant will still try them.
Victim Blaming
It may seem silly to blame you, the victim, when you seemingly did nothing wrong. But a defendant will try to pick apart your every move and decision, to make it seem like you contributed to your accident.
They will say you should have been paying better attention or that you were wearing the wrong shoes or that you were somewhere you weren’t supposed to be. They may say that what you fell on was clearly observable and avoidable, making it your fault that you fell.
Pre-Existing Injuries
Many defendants will say that your injuries existed, long before the accident you are suing about.
This is called a pre-existing injury, and Defendants will often comb your prior medical records, trying to see if you had any other type of injury that is similar to the one you have now, because of your accident. They want to show that your injuries were caused by something long ago in your past, and not by the Defendant’s negligence.
The Reasonableness of Your Medical Bills
Defendants are allowed to challenge your medical expenses or bills, and say that they are not reasonable. While you have no control over what your doctors charge, and while medical expenses are exorbitantly expensive, Defendants will use this defense to try to avoid paying the entirety of your medical bills.
Defendants will bring in their own expert witnesses, usually medical doctors, to testify as to what charges they see as reasonable or unreasonable.
Blaming Others
Like a child pointing the finger at his or her classmate or sibling, Defendants will often point to some other person or entity and say “he did it!”
They will blame contractors or third parties or other people involved in the accident, in order to take some of the financial responsibility off of them. In negligent security cases, they often will blame the criminal, to convince a jury that they, the business that had little or no security, should not be blamed. In property or premises liability cases, they might say that someone else, not the Defendant, owns, controls, cleans, or maintains, the exact area where you fell.
This defense is called trying to delegate legal duties. But often, these duties cannot be delegated to another party. Nonetheless, that won’t stop Defendants from trying to use the defense.
We know what defenses the other side will likely use in your injury case. Contact our Rhode Island injury lawyers at Robert E. Craven & Associates for help.
