Legal Question in Personal Injury in California

I was at a bar and got into a verbal argument with another patron. I came forward at the other patron and he threw a bottle at me which fractured my nose and had to get 3 stitches for the lacerations I received. The medical bill was $11,855 which as non insured I paid $1720 to the hospital. It shows in my lab results that I had over 2 1/2 times the legal limit of alcohol and valium in my system. The other patron was arrested at the scene and later pleaded no-contest to battery misdemeanor. What can I expect to receive if I get a lawyer and sue in civil court?


Asked on 6/06/15, 6:52 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

You almost certainly can expect to get nothing. Even if we ignore all the issues regarding your contributing to or partial responsibility for your injury, and even setting aside the issue of how much your doctors were actually paid, who paid any or all of the balance, and claims by the hospital or the government on any judgment you might get, you have one deeply fundamental problem: who can you sue? Unless the person who hit you was an employee of the bar, or for some other reason the bar is responsible for that person, the only person you can sue is the person who threw the bottle. And quite frankly, the likelihood that a person who gets into bar fights and commits misdemeanor battery on people with .25 blood alcohol levels are just not the sort of person who have any money to pay a judgment even if you got one.

Read more
Answered on 6/06/15, 11:09 pm


Related Questions & Answers

More Personal Injury Law and Tort Law questions and answers in California