QUESTION
I would like to know if I can place a civil suit against him and can I use his criminal charges against him in it?
Asked on Dec 08th, 2016 on Personal Injury - Wisconsin
More details to this question:
I was assaulted on July 13, 2016 by a person and he was arrested and on October 10, 2016, he pleads guilty to battery, disorderly conduct and resisting or obstructing an officer. He was sentenced to the first time offender program and ordered to pay $1250.00 in restitution. Since this happened by work (I am a cab driver) does not have me going down the road where it happened so I lose about $300 - $400 a week in fares. I don't get a pay check I am an independent contractor so my pay is the fares that I get in my cab each day.
1 ANSWER
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Did the D.A.'s office contact you and ask you to request restitution, and identify the kinds of damages for which you can get restitution? (The risk is that a court already decided the matter-so you might be faced with an affirmative defense that the matter has already been decided.) I think your right to sue your assailant civilly, however, survives the determination of restitution. Some potential difficulties, apart from the 'issue preclusion' I mentioned above: criminals usually don't have enough money to pay much in the way of the damages, or sometimes anything. And you would have to prove your lost profits, and fact the argument that it is your employer, not the wrongdoer, who is causing you to lose the earnings by prohibiting you from driving on that (apparently remunerative) route. You can try small claims. But again, you might not recover enough for you to feel that justice has been done.
Answered on Jan 31st, 2017 at 5:48 PM