If I took my son to the doctor after someone intentionally stepped on his wrist and its broken, can I sue the person for the injury and/or pain and suffering?
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If I took my son to the doctor after someone intentionally stepped on his wrist and its broken, can I sue the person for the injury and/or pain and suffering?
I used my insurance to cover the bill.
Asked on August 4, 2015 under Personal Injury, South Carolina
Answers:
S.L,. Member, California Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 8 years ago | Contributor
Since someone intentionally stepped on your son's wrist and broke it, the perpetrator is liable for assault and battery.
Assault and battery are both civil and criminal. The civil case (lawsuit) and the criminal case are separate and proceed independently.
As for the civil case, when your son completes his medical treatment and is released by the doctor or is declared by the doctor to be permanent and stationary, which means having reached a point in his medical treatment where no further improvement is anticipated, obtain your son's medical bills and medical reports.
Compensation for the medical bills is straight reimbursement. The medical reports will document the nature and extent of your son's injury and will be used to determine compensation for pain and suffering, which is an amount in addition to the medical bills. I assume that your son is a minor and does not have a wage loss claim. If he does have a wage loss claim, compensation is straight reimbursement. Since assault and battery are intentional acts, the perpetrator can be sued for punitive damages, a substantial amount to punish the intentional, wrongful, malicious act. .
If your son is a minor, you will need to be appointed guardian ad litem to file a lawsuit on his behalf because a minor cannot file a lawsuit himself.
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