When you’re faced with the opportunity to pursue a lawsuit against another person or business, you might think it would be better to let things go.
In many situations, walking away is the most effective action. However, walking away after being injured is a bad decision that can result in sky-high medical bills and loads of regret. Regret can lead to anxiety and stress, and that’s not a good combination.
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Pursuing a lawsuit against the entity that caused you harm plays a major role in maintaining your physical and psychological well-being.
Winning a lawsuit or settlement relieves financial stress
You probably already experience day-to-day financial stress from paying bills, budgeting, and trying to save for your future. Imagine your financial stress tripling (or more) because you wanted to be nice and not file a lawsuit against someone who hurt you.
Hesitation to pursue a lawsuit might stem from being someone who strives to avoid all arguments, fights, controversies, and battles. Why should you spend your time bringing people down? The truth is, lawsuits aren’t always about bringing someone down. Many lawsuits are simply about compelling the responsible party to pay for the damage they’ve caused.
It’s not easy to forgive and forget
There is a time and a place to forgive and forget. That time is not after someone’s negligence causes you harm. Walking away after being injured can lead to feelings of bitterness and resentment. No matter how hard you try to convince yourself you’ve forgiven the other person, you’ll still feel resentful when writing checks to pay for medical bills that the person created.
Pursuing a personal injury lawsuit is the only way to keep the stress, bitterness, and resentment at bay. After an injury, your financial burden will only grow. A good lawyer will recover as much compensation as possible, which can include money for pain and suffering, emotional distress, and lost wages. Best of all, a lawyer will deal with all communications from authorities, third parties, and insurance companies.
When someone hurts you, you shouldn’t have to pay for it
People can be held financially responsible for their actions when those actions negatively impact other people and/or someone else’s property. Under the law, when a person’s negligence causes harm to another person, they can be held liable for all damages and injuries.
This applies to businesses, too. When you walk away without filing a lawsuit, you’re essentially taking on an unknown amount of medical debt that will probably continue to grow.
Say a man walks into a coffee shop and trips over a customer’s laptop charger that was strung across the doorway. The man suffers a broken wrist and a scuffed-up knee. His injuries aren’t severe, but he teaches tennis for a living and now he can’t work for three months while his wrist heals.
When he returns to work, he’ll need time to get back into using his wrist, and there’s a chance his wrist won’t ever return to normal use. His ability to teach will suffer and he’ll eventually have to quit.
If the man in the above example walks away, he’ll need to pay for his wrist surgery out of pocket. He’ll have to pay for his emergency room visit, all administered medications, prescribed painkillers, and physical therapy once he’s out of surgery.
He’ll be out of work for three months and even if he qualifies for unemployment, he won’t see the first check for several weeks, and he’ll only get a fraction of his usual salary. That’s a heavy load to bear out of pocket for something that wasn’t his fault.
On the other hand, if the man pursues a personal injury lawsuit against the coffee shop, he’ll most likely win compensation to cover all of his medical expenses, physical therapy, and lost wages.
Pursuing a lawsuit can bring completion
Leaving your situation incomplete in a legal way can cause low-level anxiety, especially on the anniversary of your injury. If you choose not to file a lawsuit against a person or business whose negligence caused you harm, you’ll be left with a feeling of incompletion that will follow you around for decades.
You’ll always wonder if you should have sued, and if getting compensated for your injuries would have prevented you from having to sell your assets to pay your medical bills.
Although money can’t fix broken bones or heal your mind, it will put food on the table and keep you out of undeserved debt.
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