Most people have heard about technicalities being used as legal defenses. Many want to use them as their defense in a personal injury case, but is it possible? What is a technicality and when it is a viable defense?

What Is a Technicality?

Basically, a legal technicality doesn't usually have anything to do with the case. It's about the law/rule or about the lawsuit filing that makes the prosecution weak or invalid. Just one technicality could lead to the whole case falling or mean that a person is able to defend themselves easily.

In some cases, the judge has no choice but to throw out the whole case without even hearing the details.

Can You Use a Technicality?

Your lawyer will tell you if there is ground for a technicality as a legal defense. It is possible that there are multiple technicalities that get you off for the suit. This is why it is so important to have an experienced attorney in personal injury cases. Contact a law firm like Randall A. Wolff & Associates, Ltd to meet with a lawyer about your case.

Some of the most common technicalities include:

Being outside the statute of limitations: there is only a certain period of time that a person will be able to sue you for a personal injury case. Outside of this timeframe is outside the statute of limitations and your case will usually be thrown out completely. It doesn't matter if you were at fault or not. Each state has its own timeframe.

Not following the rules: there are certain rules that the claimant will need to follow to file the case. If the claimant doesn't do this, you will be able to ask for the case to be thrown out on the technicality. You will need to file a motion for summary judgment. The facts of the case don't even come into it at this point. Like the statute of limitations, the rules differ by state, so ask your lawyer to look into all of them to see if your case defense could be a technicality. One of the rules is to file notice.

Not waiting after filing notice: plaintiffs have a habit of not waiting after filing notice to continue with the next step of the case. Most defendants don't know their rights, so make sure you look out for this one. The period after filing the notice is time for you to respond and take other action, like a counter case.

Just a simple technicality could get your case thrown out of court. It doesn't matter if you are at fault or not, by not following the right steps in a personal injury case, the judge won't listen to the evidence and you will be off the hook.