Claim for Assault Injuries: How to Get Compensated?

Unlike any other injury lawsuit, a personal injury claim can be a little distinct and diverse as a whole. For example, the application process of the claim for a slip-and-fall incident will be slightly different from the claim for an assault injury.

Let me tell you how.

Also read: Slip, Trip and Fall Claims, Explained

What is an assault injury case?

An assault case and a battery lawsuit are usually linked together due to the similarity in their case. However, from a general viewpoint, each of these hold a different definition.

For example, an assault is when an individual intimidates or threatens you through the usage of their actions. This, in turn, can lead you to fear about a possible forthcoming injury to you or someone you know and love.

Even if you’re not injured, you can still make this claim. However, the same cannot be said against a battery case.

In this aspect, you’ll have to be involved in a physical where you’ve been harmed drastically. It’s a severe act of crime and can lead to an elongated jail time if proven guilty.

Elements of an assault injury case

If you’re thinking about filing an assault injury case with a local assault attorney, it’s best if you think about the critical elements of the same properly. Please keep reading to know more about them.

• The fight or the act of intimidation happened intentionally on the part of the attacker or the defendant.
• The defendant intended to cause an apprehension of harm, and 
• It makes you anxious about losing your life or getting injured.

Here’s an example:

You’re sitting on a chair in a field, and someone suddenly approaches you with a baseball bat. And, without uttering a single word, they swing the bat in your direction. In this case, it doesn’t matter if you were hurt or not. Instead, what matters is that the attacker came with the intention to injure you. And, they acted equivocally yet intentionally. So, you can pin this one as an assault injury claim.

Types of damages (or, compensations) in an assault

An act of wrongfulness usually requires some sort of “damage” to be actionable in court.

In case of an assault claim, the “damage” can include these:

• Economic damage tends to entail the reimbursement of your injury. For example, you were severely injured due to the assault and had to be taken to get better.
• Punitive damage for an assault is designed to offer punishment to the person who’s committed the crime. However, you can only file this one if your damage was severe.
• Non-economic damage can include the compensation for your suffering and pain. In some cases, some other losses, which are impossible to quantify, are covered as well.

Should you sue?

If you’ve been assaulted by someone, you should definitely sue them in any possible manner. But, before you do, there’s a thing or two you’ll need to determine first.

• Do you have the right lawyer with you? Having a professional injury lawyer shall make or break your case. So, make sure that you’ve hired the right person.
• Were you really assaulted? Sometimes, people tend to consider an unintentional or a non-assault to be viable as well. However, this type of case usually gets rejected.
• How much budget do you have? An assault injury lawsuit can go on for more than a year or so. Hence, you’ll need to consider if you have the money to afford it or not.

In addition to these, you’ll need to keep the time limit of the claim in mind too. Although the durations may differ from city to city, if you’re currently living in New Jersey, you’ll need to file your claim within a year or so. In case of an indictable offense, the duration can increase to five years.

Or else, your case will be nullified, and you won’t get any reimbursement from the defendant.

Instead, they might sue you for tarnishing their social reputation.

So, please be careful and talk to your lawyer before taking any action in this regard.