You probably know what it means to sue someone, even if you’ve never done it. Maybe you know someone who sued a person or company. If so, perhaps you heard some details about what happened.
However, you may not know when it makes sense to sue an individual or business entity. It’s worth talking about that. If you’re ever in a situation where this becomes a realistic possibility, you should know what factors might compel you to act.
Are You Certain You Know What Person or Company Caused Damages?
As a lawyer, you must know about many legal terms and situations, both common and obscure. You must know what causation means in legal circles, what proximate cause means, and much more, particularly if you work in the personal injury niche. However, as someone who doesn’t practice law, you don’t need that specialized information.
At a minimum, though, even if you’ve never needed a lawyer for anything in your life, you should know when circumstances warrant you suing a person or company. First, if you feel you might have cause to sue someone, you should ask yourself whether you’re sure you know what person or entity caused you harm.
Sometimes, a circumstance might occur where you sustain an injury or have an accident, but you don’t think you can blame anyone but yourself. If you’re jogging near your house, and you step on a crack in the sidewalk and sprain your ankle, you probably won’t immediately think it’s anyone’s fault who you can compel to appear in court and pay for your doctor bills.
If you can connect the dots clearly between causation and injury, though, and you feel sure a person or entity caused the harm you suffered, it’s possible you might sue them. For instance, if you buy a product a company made that hurts you because it is defective, you can probably file a product liability suit against that business entity. If a doctor prescribes you some incorrect medication that makes you sick, you can probably sue them for medical malpractice.
Do You Have Evidence That Proves Your Case?
Let’s say you’re certain a person or entity harmed you, and there’s a clear line you can draw from their action or inaction to your injury or illness. Suing them now becomes a possibility. Can you prove what you allege happened, though?
Maybe a product a company manufactured hurt you, but there’s nothing about that product you can point to that proves it’s defective. Perhaps, if a doctor gave you bad advice you followed that made you ill, you do not have any paperwork or other concrete evidence you can present in court that conclusively establishes the events that you’re describing.
It’s not impossible that you might win a lawsuit against a person or entity if you don’t have a great deal of physical evidence or eyewitnesses who can back up what you claim happened. However, if it’s your word against someone else’s, know that winning a civil suit you bring against a person or entity isn’t exactly a slam dunk. If you have abundant evidence that proves your version of events, then suing a person or company and getting a satisfactory outcome becomes much more likely.
Do You Have Any Other Way of Recouping the Money You Lost?
You should also ask yourself when you’re thinking about suing an individual or business entity whether you can recoup the money you lost in any other way. If another driver runs into your car and totals it, will your insurance replace the vehicle? Will your policy pay for your medical bills after the accident? Will it cover medication, physical therapy, or surgery? How about the wages you lost while you recovered?
If you can get the money back through easier means, then avoiding suing a person or company probably makes sense. It’s true that some people seem to like getting litigious every chance they get. They might file a series of civil lawsuits throughout their life in the hopes that they will see a significant payout.
Most people don’t like having to go to court, though. They don’t relish having to testify in front of a jury. If you can get back any financial losses in some other way, it’s probably just as well that you don’t involve the court system.
These trials take time and energy. Your insurance cutting you a check that covers the money you spent probably seems much more appealing when you stop to think about it.
Do You Feel You Have Non-Economic Damages That Demand Compensation?
You can ask yourself one additional question if you are considering suing a person or company. If you feel sure this individual or entity harmed you, can you let it go? Alternatively, do you feel that the non-economic losses you suffered demand formal acknowledgment and financial compensation?
While you can look at things like lost wages or medical bills in a certain way, you must regard non-economic losses differently. They’re less tangible and more abstract.
For instance, if you sustain a head injury that someone caused, they can pay you back for your medical bills. What about if you suffer blinding headaches several times per week from that point forward, though? You’re undoubtedly experiencing pain and suffering, but can you let it go?
In some situations, you might think you have to sue if the person or company that you feel caused your injury or illness doesn’t seem the least bit sorry about what they did. In that scenario, you may feel that you must pursue justice, regardless of how much evidence you do or don’t have. Maybe you feel so strongly that this person or entity should pay that you feel compelled to drag them into a courtroom so you can tell your story to a jury of your peers.
All these factors will likely impact your decision to sue or let the matter go.
