Personal Injury Law

Personal Injury Suits against Friends: When to Draw the Line

By mbrickley

When you are injured because of someone else’s mistake or wrongdoing, it seems only fair to receive compensation from the person who did you wrong. But what happens when the person responsible for your injury is a close friend or relative?

I recently hurt my back while carrying heavy furniture up four flights of stairs helping my friend move. I volunteered to help - so it’s my fault, right? I think so - but if the injury was bad enough I could enlist the help of a local personal injury attorney to find out if my friend is at all liable, and if so, how to proceed.

My injury is not that severe; however if I were in the situation of Charla Nash, I definitely would not hesitate to file charges against the friend whose crazy chimpanzee brutally attacked me and destroyed my face.

In many cases, deciding to file a suit against a friend of yours could be a difficult decision to make.  I probably wouldn’t do it unless it was a really severe and/or expensive case, but it’s definitely a situational decision.

If you have an injury and it’s because of something a friend of yours did or did not do, try talking with a personal injury lawyer in your area to find out if it might be worth your time and effort to file a personal injury lawsuit. Almost all personal injury attorneys offer a free consultation, so if you’re questioning a situation, it can’t hurt to check it out.

Full post as published by The Injury Blog on May 18, 2009 (boomark / email).