Intentional Torts — A Civil Injury Case after a Criminal Assault
Imagine that you are walking down the street one day looking down at the screen of your phone and the next thing you know you feel a whack on your head. You look up to see a man unloading two by fours from a truck and carrying them into a building where some renovations are going on. The whack on the head, which left a knot and a bloody welt, was a tort: a careless, negligent act of one person that caused harm or injury to another person or their property, which could lead to civil liability.
Now, if you were walking down the street at night and a roving band of teenagers surrounds you and your friends and starts beating you with wooden bats and kicks and punches you while laughing and taunting you – that is an example of an intentional tort. The teenagers were roaming the streets late at night, looking for trouble, and you and your friends were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
A civil action arising out of a criminal case
You suffered a broken jaw and two broken ribs in the attack. Your friends also suffered injuries that caused them to spend time in the hospital and lose time at work, so you decide to bring a personal injury claim against the assailants in an attempt to recover compensation to cover your medical bills, lost wages and pain and suffering.
When an issue is being tried in both a criminal and civil proceedings, the civil case must wait for the criminal case to conclude before it can begin. Once the criminal case has concluded, the results can be used as evidence in the civil trial. There is a doctrine in U.S. law called collateral estoppel that says that the issue of liability is not re-litigated when the defendant is found guilty.
If you have been the victim of battery or any other kind of intentional tort and you would like to take legal action against the perpetrator, you will want to schedule a consultation with a personal injury attorney who can help you recover compensation for your injuries and losses.
Paulson & Nace, PLLC protects personal injury victims in the Greater Washington, D.C. metro area and throughout West Virginia. Please contact our office to schedule a no-obligation consultation.
Christopher T. Nace works in all practice areas of the firm, including medical malpractice, birth injury, drug and product liability, motor vehicle accidents, wrongful death, and other negligence and personal injury matters.
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