Legal Question in Personal Injury in California

There was a situation where bicyclist and I bumped into each other at a corner, argued for a few minutes, which led to me walking away. This only provoked the bicyclist further to attack me from behind… which then led to a physical altercation.

I then had no choice but to stall him by holding his arm and engaging in the physical altercation as he resisted while waiting until the police showed up. This unfortunately led to us both punching each other in the face as I held on to the bicyclcist's arm. Although the police smoothed everything over especially with no given police record, I have a hospital bill for the stitches I received from the situation and I would like to sue this bicyclist in a small claims case only to pay for the stitches.

My main question is, would a case like this affect future employment since any company can grab a hold of a public court record knowing I got into this physical altercation? I was told that being able to submit a job application is okay since there is no police or criminal record but would it still lay a bad impression amongst the employer anyway after sending the application, knowing this altercation occured?


Asked on 6/18/19, 9:26 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Terry A. Nelson Nelson & Lawless

An arrest would be on your record, but no filing means this is not. Civil suits on your record, especially a single small claims court case for property damage, generally do not affect your 'future'.

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Answered on 6/19/19, 9:01 am


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