Going through a personal injury case can be stressful. It can turn your entire world upside down. Getting hurt in an accident is the last thing anyone wants, and having to fight for the compensation you deserve when someone else’s irresponsibility results in your injury can only make your recovery worse.
What happens if, after your case, new evidence comes to light and one party demands a new trial, or what happens if you lose your case and new evidence might allow you to get a different result? Is it possible to go back to court? Learn if and when new evidence can allow for a new personal injury trial, and why you should call on a qualified personal injury attorney for your case.
Can a Personal Injury Trial Be Re-opened?
In general, after a judgment has been rendered in a personal injury trial, and the appeal process is closed, the case cannot be re-opened, and no additional compensation can be requested. This means that if you initially request $100,000 for your injury, but after the trial, you realize that you’ve accrued $150,000 in expenses, you can’t go back and ask for more. This is to prevent people from continuously demanding more and more from the defendant in such cases.
However, there are certain specific situations where a case that has been completed can be re-opened, if enough new evidence comes to light which can change the original outcome. It’s important to understand, though, that this only happens in very specific cases.
What Kind of Evidence Allows a New Trial?
The simple existence of new evidence isn’t generally enough to open a closed case again. In order to get a motion granted for a new trial, the new evidence must fulfill specific requirements. First, the evidence has to be directly related to the lawsuit in question. It must have substantial persuasiveness and weight which could conceivably change the outcome.
In addition, the evidence must not have been discoverable in the original trial. If it’s something that was there all along and someone simply overlooked it, it’s not likely to be accepted for the purpose of re-opening a case. It has to be actual, new evidence that wasn’t available before. Only if these specific circumstances are met will a new trial potentially be granted.
Seeking Help from a Personal Injury Attorney
If you are hurt in a car accident and it’s someone else’s fault, you may be entitled to significant compensation. You can collect damages for your medical bills, your lost wages and potential future earnings, for pain and suffering, for emotional damages and trauma, for lost relationships and lost consortium, and more. However, insurance companies aren’t eager to pay out huge sums of money, and they’ll fight hard to avoid payouts.
That’s why you need help from a qualified professional San Francisco personal injury attorney. The right injury lawyer knows how to fight against insurance company non-payment tactics, protect your rights and get you the compensation you deserve to recover from your injuries. If you’re in this situation in the San Francisco area and you need help, call the Gruber Law Group for a free case consult today.
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