A shooting accident is always something that happens very quickly, without much in the way of warning. Most of these types of accidents happen during hunting season, though they can also happen at the range or on someone's personal property. Have you been injured in an accident, and are you interested in suing the other party who was involved because he was negligent in some way that led to the incident? You can then use this money to pay for your medical bills or simply to reimburse yourself for the pain and suffering that you were forced to endure through no fault of your own.
Proving It Can Be Difficult
When you go to court, it will be up to you to prove that the other person was negligent in the case. You need to convince the judge that you are not just trying to make money off of something that was not their fault. This can be hard to do. You need to understand that negligence is different than an intentional action. Even if the person did not intend to do what they did, they can still be held accountable if they should have prevented it. This is what you will be trying to prove.
The Varying Degrees
One thing that has to be considered is that there are varying degrees to which both of you could have been at fault. For example, perhaps you went out in front of the gun before the person was done shooting at the target. At the same time, they did not turn on the safety, so the gun fired and you were struck in the leg. This could be 30 percent your fault for being in an unsafe place, but it could be 70 percent the shooter's fault because he failed to make his gun safe when he saw that you were in the way.
Comparative Negligence and the Law
There are two types of comparative negligence that need to be considered. The first is known as pure comparative negligence. When using this structure, you can get money based on what percentage of the fault belonged to someone else. Even if you were 90 percent at fault, you could still get some money for the 10 percent of the blame that fell on the other person.
A more common structure is known as modified comparative negligence. This is probably what the judge will use. This stops one person from having to pay anything if the percentage of the blame that falls on the other party goes over a certain amount. This is to protect those who are merely ten percent at fault from being preyed on by those who were mostly to blame. If you are suing, you should probably be sure that less than fifty percent of the blame is going to be assigned to you.
Negligence Must Have Contributed To The Shooting
One thing that you will have to prove is that the negligence actually contributed to what happened. In most shooting cases, this is fairly easy to do. A man who forgets to turn on his safety has directly contributed to the fact that the gun was able to fire. It is important to keep this in mind, though, because you need to make sure that you can draw a direct line between one event and the next. Do not try to sue for something like the fact that he did not clean his gun properly, because that probably had nothing to do with why you were shot.
Presenting the Evidence
The biggest problem that you are going to run into is a lack of evidence. If you and the shooter were just firing at targets in his backyard when you were hit, it is pretty much going to be your word against his. If he says that you ran out in front while he was pulling the trigger, that he could not stop himself from shooting you, then you are going to have a hard time convincing the judge that you walked into what he told you was a safe place when the gun went off. You need to get as much hard evidence together as you can to support your claim.
For example, you may want to take some pictures of the yard where the incident took place. You could take a picture of the gun. You may also want to have a gunsmith come in to testify that the safety does indeed work and that it was just not engaged.
Accidents happen to everyone. If you have been involved in one and would like to speak to an attorney, Call a Lubbock attorney at Liggett Law Group. Liggett Law has extensive knowledge about shooting accidents and will answer any questions or concerns you may have.
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