Personal injury claims are mostly filed against unintentional accidents such as a wet slippery floor that causes injury or getting rear-ended by a distracted driver.
However, keep in mind this is not always the case, as some injuries might be intentional. These potential, planned injuries are where assault and battery come into the picture.
Under personal injury law, assault and battery are considered intentional actions that can form the basis of a case in a civil court. Typically, the victim of the assault and/or battery sues the offender seeking compensation for injuries sustained from the incident.
The need for personal injury claims based on Assault and Battery
The first step in understanding assault and battery is comprehending the differences between civil and criminal proceedings. On the one hand, criminal proceedings are designed to punish the offender.
On the other hand, civil proceedings have the claimant as the central focus, and the goal is to compensate them for any damages sustained. This is the fundamental reason you can file a civil claim based on assault and battery.
If the offender gets sentenced to jail, you may fail to get adequate compensation for the damages. You may need long-term care, which is expensive. In other cases, the injuries may heal, but the physiological damage may take years to wane, requiring expensive therapy sessions.
Hence, you need to file a personal injury claim to get compensation for all these damages and criminal charges against the offender.
The distinction between Assault and Battery
Many assume that assault and battery are terms that they can use interchangeably. This is hardly the case, and while they are directly linked, some legal technicalities form the difference between the two.
Assault is primarily defined as an intentional act that puts a person in fear of an attack or imminent physical harm. You should note that the victim does not have to be physically harmed. A victim put in a position of fear of bodily injury is liable to file for assault criminal charges.
If the victim is harmed and sustains an injury, it is no longer assault. The crime has crossed the legal threshold, becoming battery. Therefore, the distinction between these two crimes is causing actual bodily harm.
It is worth noting that assault is mainly perceived as the first crime before battery, forming the connection between the two. Hence, while they may be linked, there is often a key distinction.
Degrees of Assault and Battery
The different degrees of assault and battery fall into two broad categories: simple and aggravated. The nature and severity of the crime will determine the category under which it falls.
For instance, if the offender has assaulted a victim that falls under protected classes, such as women and children, the crimes are treated with higher severity. Also, the severity of the charges may be increased to felony class crimes if they include robbery or rape.
Conclusion
Criminal cases for assault and battery charges can bleed over into civil law. Especially with battery cases, where the victim has endured physical harm, a civil suit can help them receive damages in addition to justice in criminal court.
By explaining the damages you incurred as a result of the assault and/or battery, your personal injury attorney may be able to estimate the chances of success.