In a personal injury claim, the responsible party gets charged with having been negligent. According to the claimant’s allegation, that same party was careless and neglectful at a specific time or in a specific situation. That party’s negligence then caused the damage to the victim, the person that filed the claim.
Someone targeted by such a claim can escape from the need to compensate the victim by introducing a logical defense. Certain defenses get used repeatedly by the defendant’s injury lawyer in Spruce Grove.
Defenses that get used most often:
Time limitation has been exceeded; the victim has failed to file a personal injury claim before expiration of the 2-year limitation period. That period starts when the victim first becomes aware of the loss/injury.
Contributory negligence: an action or actions taken by the victim/plaintiff helped to create an accident-prone situation. Contributory negligence could also be charged, if the plaintiff’s actions managed to increase the severity of an accident-related injury.
The defendant was not in control of his or her actions.
The situation that caused the accident is not covered by the defendant’s insurance policy.
Reasons why an insurance policy might not cover a given situation:
• Damages due in part to the time and location where the accident took place.
• The injured party was committing an illegal act at the time of the accident.
• The risky nature of the situation exposes too many people to a potential danger.
The sorts of lawsuits in which such defenses might get used:
• Lawsuit against a manufacturer of asbestos.
• Lawsuit against a business that has exposed workers to asbestos
• Lawsuits initiated by victims with chronic bronchitis.
• Lawsuits initiated by asthmatics.
• Lawsuit against company or organization that caused someone to become deaf.
• Victim sues a company or organization for occupational stress
• Victim sues a company or organization for development of mesothelioma.
The interesting defense for the last of the listed lawsuits:
A mesothelioma victim might find it hard to win a personal injury case, if the victim’s mesothelioma appeared too early. It normally takes a good many years for someone that was exposed to hazardous substances to develop mesothelioma. Yet the members of some families have a genetic condition that predisposes them to the effects of a carcinogen. Consequently, the member of such a family would be expected to develop mesothelioma at an early date.
If a plaintiff comes from such a family, he or she must prove the link between the inherited material in the genes and the early appearance of the lung cancer (mesothelioma). That need can trigger a search for some expert. Such an expert can explain the way that the genetic makeup of a given individual has the ability to determine that same individual’s susceptibility to the effects of different carcinogens.