Can i sue a 17 year or his parents for emotional trauma for pulling a gun on me?
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Can i sue a 17 year or his parents for emotional trauma for pulling a gun on me?
I had a 17 year old pull a gun on me after I pulled into my neighborhood and pulled over to let him go around me. I wasn’t going fast enough for him and he decided to threaten me. They caught him
within hours after having the cops called on him a second time that night. My adrenaline took me through the night but i was a disaster for the next few weeks affecting my Christmas and my job. It happened 3 days before Christmas. The police were already aware of this kid as the week prior he evaded police speeding on the highway. I continue to have nightmares and issues with driving not
to mention I relieve the incident every time I pull into my neighborhood. Can I sue the guardians of the 17 year old or the suspect for emotional trauma and loss of job wages?
Asked on January 15, 2018 under Personal Injury, Texas
Answers:
S.L,. Member, California Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 6 years ago | Contributor
You can sue the guardians and the kid for intentional infliction of emotional distress and also assault.
Intentional infliction of emotional distress is an extreme and outrageous act intended to cause and which does cause you emotional distress.
Assault is intentionally placing a person in reasonable apprehension of an immediate battery. Battery is the actual physical contact which did not occur. Pulling the gun on you constituted assault. Assault is both criminal and civil (lawsuit). The criminal and civil cases proceed independently of each other.
It is advisable to see a psychologist or psychiatrist for treatment of your emotional distress to document your injury.
When you complete your medical treatment, obtain your medical bills, medical reports and documentation of wage loss. Your claim should include those items.
Compensation for the medical bills is straight reimbursement. The medical reports document your emotional distress and will be used to determine compensation for pain and suffering which is an amount in addition to the medical bills. Compensation for wage loss is straight reimbursement. You file one lawsuit with two causes of action (assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress). You should also seek punitive damages which are a substantial amount to punish the intentional wrongful acts of the defendant (party you are suing).
Your lawsuit must be filed prior to the expiration of the applicable statute of limitations or you will lose your rights forever in the matter.
You should also consider a third cause of action in your lawsuit for negligence against the guardians for their negligent supervision of the kid. You can't recover punitive damages for negligence. Punitive damages are applicable for the assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress causes of action (claims).
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