Wrong Place, Wrong Time: How These Injuries Can Be Grounds For A Lawsuit
Truth is stranger than fiction. No truer statements can be uttered when you hear stories about people being assaulted, abducted, and/or murdered, only to find out after the fact that these crimes were committed against the wrong target. Several news shows have aired episodes that delve into criminal cases of assault, abduction, and murder-for-hire gone terribly wrong (as if such things could ever go right). The criminals committed their crimes against someone who was not supposed to be their target. A truly innocent victim was harmed or killed instead of the intended victim.
So, what happens if you end up being one of these "wrong place, wrong time" victims? If you survive the incident, do you know what to do next? Actually, this incident could be grounds for a personal injury lawsuit, on top of a crime. Here is what that looks like.
Press Charges and Go to the Criminal Trial
You absolutely have to press charges and go to the criminal trial. That is a must, given the nature of the attempted crimes. However, you should not stop there. If it were not for the person that hired the thugs that hurt you, you would never have known about this crime at all. Your next step is to sue those that hired the thugs for "gross negligence." This sounds weird, but it is the most appropriate phrase to fit the crime.
Sue the Guilty Party for Gross Negligence
When you think of negligence, you envision someone who was not cared for and the person who refused to provide necessary care. However, gross negligence is defined as,
...a conscious and voluntary disregard of the need to use reasonable care, which is likely to cause foreseeable grave injury or harm to persons, property, or both. It is conduct that is extreme when compared with ordinary negligence, which is a mere failure to exercise reasonable care.
In your case, your personal injury attorneys can argue that your "wrong place, wrong time" incident was the direct result of gross negligence. The person who paid the thugs to abduct, assault, and/or attempt to kill you did not, in good conscience, effectively describe the intended target.
As a result, the hired thugs came after you, assuming that you were the target they were hired to go after. The case of mistaken identity is what caused your injuries, something which could have been prevented had the person done a better job of directing the hired thugs to the intended target. Hence, you should absolutely sue for compensation.