You must meet three requirements before being able to file a lawsuit. If you do not meet one of these requirements, the court will deny the case due to insufficient standing. Legal standing is founded on Article III of the US Constitution and California state law. This article will explain the three essential elements that constitute the legal standing required to sue.
The first element is an injury in The FACT.
You must be suffering a physical or financial injury to pursue a Los Angeles personal injury attorney. For example, you may prove that you suffered an injury if you sustained a fractured arm during a car crash. But, it is not possible to claim personal injury solely because someone scared you or caused emotional anxiety; however, if you can prove that you sustained injuries to your body, you can claim compensation for emotional stress.
Certain claims, like deliberate or negligent infliction of emotional distress, may be proven without the need to prove physical injuries. However, your suffering must be serious and have occurred before filing your claim. The claim must have been based on actual and current harm, not hypothetical future harm.
Causation
The second aspect of the legal right to pursue a lawsuit is the element of causation. Establishing a causal connection between the defendant’s conduct and the damage you sustained is necessary. California law allows two kinds of causation – “but to” causation and “proximate” cause. You must prove “but to” causation to prove standing to pursue a lawsuit. “But to” causation implies that you could not suffer harm if it weren’t due to the defendant’s conduct.
While “but in favor of” causation can meet the second requirement for being able to pursue a suit, this may not be sufficient to prove the causation thoroughly to win your case. That is even the case that “but in the interest of” causation gets you to the courtroom, it may not be enough to get out of court with a win. To do that, you’ll require proof of proximate causation in addition.
Redressability
The third and last element is legal status can be referred to as “redressability.” Redressability implies that the damage you sustained must be so that law could pay you compensation for the harm. It’s not as difficult as it may seem. For instance, suppose you’d like to bring a lawsuit for the death of a family member. What can a court do to the place value of a person’s life? Many people might believe that it is impossible. However, courts are doing it all the time.
Courts also provide compensation for intangible harms like suffering and pain, mental anguish, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, and other intangible harm. A good example of the harm that may not pass the redressability test is damage caused by a person living outside the United States whose assets are outside those of the United States. Since the court lacks jurisdiction in other countries, it could find the damage unredressed.
More is needed to establish standing to be a Winner.
The fact that you have standing doesn’t mean you are establishing responsibility. The only purpose of standing is to get you to court to determine the defendant’s liability.
Settlement and Standing Negotiations
In essence, there is no requirement to prove that you are standing to start settlement talks with the other party. If, however, you are deemed by the opposing party to be ineligible, you don’t have the standing to file a lawsuit. They’ll probably not discuss a settlement with you. If you cannot make a claim, you will not be able to assert your claim, and you won’t have the bargaining power to seek a settlement.
You can bring a suit if you believe you are entitled to file a lawsuit and the opposing party doesn’t agree. If the court agrees with you that they allow for the suit to go forward, standing won’t be a concern. If the court agrees with the opposing side that you are not standing, they’ll dismiss your case. The best option is to prove to stand before you start negotiating with the other party (which could be an insurance firm).
Get a Lawyer’s help to determine if you have the right to sue
Standing can be difficult to establish and even more difficult to prove. If you doubt your standing, it’s best to set up a meeting with a personal injury attorney instead of filing an action and then being denied.
