College Students Intentionally Seeking Damages from Personal Injury Claims

“Personal injury” is a legal term described as an injury to the body, mind, or even emotions. A successful personal injury claim would result in financial compensation for the claimant. However, the legal term “personal injury” has taken on a new meaning for some college students. College students have begun to see personal injury as means to pay for tuition or avoid finals. When it comes to personal injury and college students, here is what you need to know. 

Purposeful Accidents 

It is a normal practice for college students to walk around campus without paying attention to who has the right-of-way or oncoming traffic. Some may even take it a step further to joke about getting hit by a car in order to pay college tuition, or others may see getting injured by a car as a way to avoid the dreaded finals week. These jokes, as lighthearted as they may be, should actually be discussed. Obviously, it is not a recommended practice that college students purposely injure themselves as a means to solve their financial or emotional school woes, but can these claims be considered legal?

In short, it depends. In normal cases where the intent of the injured is not intentional, the first step would be to collect preliminary information and then examine both the claimant and claim in greater detail. Most notably, cases are subject to different legal processes depending on the extent to which the claimant is injured, the fault of the driver, and conditions of the street. Typically these cases are reviewed on a case-by-case basis and may result in a lengthy, drawn out process. This process may result in a delay of compensation — or worse — no payment at all. 

It Is Difficult to Have a Case

Case in point, if you are a college student seeking to get hit by a car for tuition payments or to avoid finals, you may want to reconsider the act of intentionally endangering your life. Getting money from personal injury claims or lawsuits may require you to prove negligence of some sort on behalf of the driver. This negligence may include something along the lines of texting while driving or not watching the road. Being able to do this is difficult, and even if you can pass this checkpoint, the payout may not be too large. The damages you receive may only pay for medical bills and if you were not severely injured, you risk receiving even less money. 

For college students seeking free tuition or a pass to avoid taking finals, you should find another avenue to generate money. If you or someone you know was injured in a car accident due to another person’s negligence, though, contact a car accident lawyer, like a car accident lawyer in Arlington, TX, today. 

Thanks to Brandy Austin Law Firm, PLLC for their insight into personal injury claims on a college campus.