Assault and Battery Lawsuit in 2024 | Quintessential Guide
Injuries may heal over a short time, but the psychological and emotional harm often takes years and extensive therapy to resolve. Therefore, to ensure you get fair compensation for all the possible damages from assault and battery injuries, file assault and battery lawsuit claims by taking professional assistance from top lawyers.
As with other cases of personal injury, assault and battery crimes are both criminal and civil liability. For example, criminal liability is used to punish the accused, while civil liability is used to ensure compensation is obtained for the person who sustained the wounds.
When the accused harms another person in a particularly violent or intentional way, the victim can get compensation for various losses and injuries, including medical expenses, damages suffered, and pain and suffering that occurred during the acts.
The assault and battery charges are intentional and are viewed this way by the court and jurors when the cases go to trial. Other factors of the claim against the perpetrator allow for additional compensation for assault and battery injury, such as emotional distress, punitive damages, and other similar compensatory payouts.
Examples of assault
After a professional baseball game, one team’s fans form a circle around a fan from the other team and say they are going to beat him.
A woman puts her face inches from a co-worker and threatens to “mess her up” if she reports a work indiscretion to her boss.
During a domestic argument, a man raises his fist and threatens to hit his wife.
Examples of battery
- A girl violently rips off someone’s backpack.
- Security guard at a nightclub uses excessive force to remove a patron.
- A woman throws a pot at her husband during an argument.
Elements of assault
When you decide to file assault and battery claims, you need to prove the following elements including:
- An intentional action on the part of the defendant.
- The defendant’s intention was to cause apprehension of harm.
- Your resulting reasonable apprehension of immediate harm.
Injuries and damages in assault and battery lawsuit
A wrongful act requires damages (injury or harm of some kind) to be actionable, and assault cases are no different. For instance, in an assault case, the damages include physical injuries and the cost to treat those injuries, lost income, and other more subjective harm.
Types of damages in assault and battery injuries
Here is a list of different kinds of damages that may result from an assault.
1. Economic damages:
It is designed to reimburse you for any costs and expenses associated with the assault. The most common components of economic damages include medical bills, lost income, including cost of future care, emergency room treatment, property damage or property loss, physical therapy, other medical bills, or healthcare expenses.
2. Non-economic damages:
It includes assault and battery compensation for pain and suffering and other losses that are difficult to quantify, but often quite significant.
3. Punitive damages:
It is designed solely to punish the assailant, and is only available in certain jurisdictions and under certain circumstances. As a general rule, an assault must be particularly outrageous or egregious to trigger the possibility of punitive damages.
The burden of proof for punitive damages
- The right to punitive damages should be established by clear and convincing evidence.
- The law defines assault and battery injuries as a higher burden of proof than preponderance of the evidence.
- In general, it means that the jury should find with a high degree of probability that the defendant acted in an especially blameworthy fashion.
How long do I have to bring a civil lawsuit for assault or battery?
In general, Philadelphia’s statute to sue after assault and battery is two years from the date of the injuries. However, in cases where the extent of the plaintiff’s injuries, it becomes important to file an assault and battery lawsuit claim.
Should I sue?
Even if you have an excellent witness to testify to the assault or a conviction from the related criminal case or more, you still need to consider the financial side of filing an assault lawsuit. The foremost purpose of a civil lawsuit is to offer compensation to the victim, to be paid by the perpetrator.
However, if the person who assaulted you doesn’t have significant assets, you will get fair assault and battery settlements, even if you are awarded a high amount in court. It is because no liability insurance policy covers an intentional act like assault. Therefore, if you sue a defendant who has little in the way of assets, you will soon find out that winning money in court is not the same as collecting it.
What are defenses to civil charges of assault/battery?
- The main defenses to civil charges of assault or battery include:
- The contact was consensual.
- Defendant had no ability to carry out his or her threat.
- Defendant did not threaten or use force against the plaintiff.
- The plaintiff initiated or escalated the incident.
- The plaintiff was not scared.
Can my family file an assault and battery claim for injury?
In some cases, the victim’s family may be able to assault and battery lawsuit for injury resulting from assault and battery in California. However, the main legal theories under which families can sue are:
1. Negligent infliction of emotional distress:
If they witness the assault.
2. Loss of consortium:
if the assault resulted in a loss of companionship, moral support, intimacy to a spouse or registered domestic partner, or wrongful death.
Factors affecting assault or battery injury compensation
- Age of the victim at the time of the assault and battery.
- Average income and future earning potential of the victim.
- Collateral sources of compensation.
- The extent of medical care is required to reach maximum improvement.
- Impact on other immediate family members.
- Nature of injuries.
- Length of time needed to recover from injuries, the permanency of the injuries.
- The lifestyle of the victim before and after the injuries.
- Quality of evidence available to prove wrongdoing.
- The circumstances leading up to the assault and battery.
- Quality of evidence available to prove wrongdoing.
- The amount of insurance coverage available and/or collectability of the perpetrator
- Whether punitive damages are available.
Why choose Ethen Ostroff Law Firm?
The top assault and battery lawyer in Philadelphia provides professional assistance with a hassle-free procedure.
- The lowest rate of lawsuit funding in the industry.
- Friendly, helpful, compassionate customer support services.
- Provides a truly transparent process, free from any hidden terms and conditions.
Our team of top-rated customer support lawyers will work with you through every step of the assault and battery lawsuit process. We are available 24/7 to assist you to find a legal funding solution that works best for you and your family.
