Small claims case for personal injury
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Small claims case for personal injury
I was attacked by a person which led to me getting cut. I am wondering if it is possible to bring this person to a small claims case to pay for my stitches as I have photos of the cut and official medical records.
The only concern I have is that I admit I hit the other person as an attempt to defend myself since that person kept attempting to taunt and attack me as I tried walking away. I don’t know anything about laws concerning self defense or if this would be considered self defense but I’m not sure whether this would make my case weaker. Since the police did not show immediately, I felt that this was my only way of defending myself since that person was acting quite crazy. The police did not do anything and the case was dropped for which is why I am considering a small claims case for this matter, especially for my stitches.
My second question was whether or not that pursuing even a smalls claims case like this would be detrimental to my records especially in the future while applying for jobs. I know nothing about these things and I would heavily appreciate it if I had some professional legal advice on this.
Asked on September 12, 2016 under Personal Injury, Alaska
Answers:
S.L,. Member, California Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 8 years ago | Contributor
Although you can file in Small Claims Court, the amount of compensation you receive will be limited. Therefore, it would be advisable to file in a higher court such as Superior to recover a substantial amount for pain and suffering which is an amount in addition to your medical bills. You can recover punitive damages for the intentional acts of assault and battery when you were attacked. Punitive damages are a substantial amount of monetary compensation to punish the wrongdoer.
Your self defense claim would only be applicable until the threat ended.
Since you were the victim of an attack, records pertaining to it won't be detrimental to your future employment.
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