Assault & Battery Son received broken jaw, can he sue?

[kunicorn65]

Can my 21 year old son, sue the guy who hit him and broke his jaw. He had to have surgery and have three plates and screws put in his jaw. What legal rights does he have? He had insurance, but will need to pay above that amount. It was a fight, This guy was pounding on a window of a girl, my son got out and told him to stop. This guy said something and my son said bring it on..The guy hit my son once, my son pushed him down on ground, the guy came back up and they both hit each other again this time they both went down. MY son was bleeding from the mouth, in extreme pain,, went to hospital , they sent him to OSU where the doctors asked what he hit with, as it was a very severe break in the jaw. Had surgery immediatley due to the severity. My son doesnt know whether to file a police report, says he has witnesses to what happened. We don't know what to do. We have a appointment with a lawyer next thursday, but not sure what to do in the mean time. Can he get into trouble with the law too??? Apparently this guy has made several comments that he had brass knuckles on, and his hand is pretty messed up..But how do we prove it? Any advice would be appreciated, we just want help with the medical bills..

Thanks
Karen

 

[CdwJava]

Your son can sue the other guy and hope to prevail. He can also call the police and report the assault, but i suspect that either BOTH parties will be in trouble (perhaps to differing degrees depending on injury), or neither will.

No one can predict whether he will prevail in a lawsuit because we don't know the other's guy's account.

If the other guy were convicted of a crime, he could be required to pay for your son's medical bills as a result of the assault.

Whether this guy can afford to pay those bills is another question. If he has no assets, then suing him will just cost your son more money.

- Carl

 

[kunicorn65]

Thanks for the quick reply, I kind of thought maybe he could also get into trouble. Nice of him to take the heat off of the girl so she could leave. At least she went to the hospital with him. Thanks again.

Karen

 

[raskalnikov]

Almost always, and I haven't heard otherwise, when a hospital receives victims of an assault, they MUST contact the police and file a police report.

 

[CdwJava]

It depends on the state. If the assault was not sexual and not related to DV, they may not have to report it. Also, if the patient lied about how the injury was inflicted, that muddies the waters, too ... and will make it harder for the police to get involved later because it will be easy for the defense to show that the victim was a liar.

- Carl