Personal Injury Website
The Burden of Proof Regarding personal injury Cases
Before people were able to sue others in personal injury cases, there was no way to seek justice in cases that involved negligence. The only way someone could be tried for a wrong act was in a criminal court. And if the person did not commit what would qualify as an intentional crime, he or she could get away with harming another person with no repercussion whatsoever.
The main reason behind personal injury cases is for an injured party to try to obtain economic recovery for losses and suffering. Today, many people choose to pursue personal injury cases even if the person that harmed them was charged in a criminal court as well. If a person is charged for a crime in a criminal court, there is a sense of justice that has been done, but the injured person and their family is still left severely hurt financially without any help for medical bills or other forms of suffering. The injured party may also choose to pursue a civil personal injury case if the defendant was cleared of charges in a criminal court. This is a way of trying your chances in court again without going against double jeopardy laws.
Perhaps the most famous example of this was with the extremely high profile case of the double homicide involving pro football player OJ Simpson. Simpson was acquitted of murder in a criminal court but the families of the victims sued him separately in a civil wrongful death case and the jury decided he was guilty and thus ordered to pay the families of the deceased a large sum of money. The Simpson case really opened up this type of double trial to a larger audience.
It is not uncommon now for both a criminal and a civil suit to be pursued-sometimes at the same time-by the victim or family of the victim of a crime. But in order to win a personal injury case, the plaintiff has the burden of proof. In other words, the plaintiff must prove by a “preponderance of evidence” that the defendant was at fault for the plaintiff’s injuries.
The claim for injury can fall into three categories: * Intentional misconduct * Negligence * Strict liability To find out more about the burden of proof and personal injury cases, visit the website of the Champaign personal injury lawyers of Spiros & Wall, P.C. today.