If you’ve suffered injuries due to an assault and battery incident, you may wonder if you can recover compensation for your injuries. Most personal injury lawsuits involve injuries due to neglect or other failures of the responsible party, causing harm to others. But when the case involves assault, battery, or both, the conduct causing injury is intentional.
Many states, including Georgia, allow victims of assault and battery to sue for financial compensation. In order to receive your deserved compensation, it’s imperative you work with an experienced personal injury attorney, like Kathryn Burmeister of Burmeister Law Firm.
Do assault and battery always go together?
People commonly pair the terms ‘assault’ and ‘battery’ together when discussing a physical attack perpetrated by one person on another. But the words ‘assault’ and ‘battery’ refer to two different crimes in the legal world. In other words, you can suffer one without the other.
Anatomy of an assault. If Person-1 intentionally behaves in a manner meant to cause Person-2 to have a reasonable fear of apprehension and harmful physical contact from Person-1, that’s an assault. If Person-2’s fear is deemed reasonable, then he may be able to sue Person-1 for assault.
Contrary to popular belief, Person-1 does not need to physically touch Person-2 in order to commit assault. The only thing needed is a reasonable fear of imminent and injurious contact on the part of Person-2.
Anatomy of battery. As in the crime of assault, the crime of battery requires the occurrence of an intentional act on the part of the perpetrator. With battery, the crime occurs due to physical contact. Person-1 commits battery if he intentionally causes harm or unwanted contact on Person-2. This contact can occur from direct and immediate action (e.g., Person-1 pushes Person-2), or from an indirect and immediate (e.g., Person-1 throws an object that hits Person-2), or indirect and remote (e.g., Person-1 sets up a trap that Person-2 falls in at a later date).
Most often, battery occurs along with assault, but it’s possible for the battery to occur without assault. For example, when Person-1 pushes Person-2 from behind, no assault occurred, but a battery did.
Recovering damages for assault and battery injuries
It’s important to set up a consultation with an experienced attorney, such as Assault and Battery Lawyer Kathryn Burmeister. You will need to bring details of any medical expenses, time out from work, psychological therapy expenses, bills not paid due to the injuries, and any other expenses related to the incident. She will review this evidence as well as carefully and compassionately listen to the details of what happened. Only an attorney with extensive experience in personal injury cases can adequately assess whether enough harm occurred to justify filing a lawsuit.
If she determines you suffered injuries requiring large medical, and other expenses, she may advise filing a lawsuit represents the best way to recover these financial losses and also receive compensation for great pain and suffering.
If you, or someone you love, have incurred injuries due to an assault, battery, or both, contact attorney Kathryn Burmeister of Burmeister Law Firm immediately. There’s never any charge for your consultation and she can properly assess your case and identify the best path forward.
