What are the common defenses used in spinal injury lawsuits?
In spinal injury lawsuits, defendants typically use various defenses to try and avoid liability or reduce the amount of damages they may have to pay out. These defenses generally fall into three main categories: contributory negligence, assumption of risk, and statute of limitations. One common defense used is contributory negligence. This defense applies if the plaintiff in the spinal injury lawsuit is partially or fully responsible for the injury, in which case, the plaintiff is barred from recovering damages from the defendant. The second defense is assumption of risk. This defense states that the plaintiff voluntarily accepted the risk when engaging in the activity which resulted in the injury, and is thus not entitled to compensation for the injury. An example of this defense would be if the plaintiff injured his back after voluntarily performing a dangerous stunt. The other common defense is the statute of limitations. This defense states that the plaintiff must file the lawsuit within a certain period of time. If the plaintiff fails to file a lawsuit within the specified period, the defendant may be able to have the lawsuit dismissed. In Virginia, the statute of limitations for a spinal injury lawsuit is two years. In summary, these are the three most common defenses used in spinal injury lawsuits in Virginia – contributory negligence, assumption of risk, and statute of limitations. It is important to understand these defenses in order to determine how best to prepare your case for court.
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