[Texas Bob]

We have all heard that if you use your firearm for self-defense you can expect to face a civil wrongfull-death lawsuit. I was wondering if anyone ever filed a "counter-suit" to seek damages from the "estate" of the deceased because his "actions" put "you" in a position of "life or death."

[Sheslinger]

Cslinger says in case of home invasion the relatives of the invader will get a carpet cleaning bill. Pretty morbid but you kind of have to come up with stupid suits to fight stupid suits.

Sheslinger

[Standing Wolf]

Cslinger says in case of home invasion the relatives of the invader will get a carpet cleaning bill.

Works for me! How about pain and suffering damages?

[CGofMP]

Gee if you shot someone wouldnt you want to see a high priced (pro gun) shrink just to make sure you were "really okay with the gravity of taking a human life".

Sounds to me like the invaders estate might just have to pay for all that time on the couch, the Rorschach, MMPI, and whatever other tests were done to make sure you were not suffering from anything PTSD like after you were "forced to deter the aggression".

Charles

[Boats]

I am a lawyer who follows interesting cases, I have never heard of a homeowner being sued by the estate of a legitimate criminal home invader or robber.

The only case that even comes close was a high profile one in Louisiana where some homeowner overreacted to his wife's hysterics over a Japanese exchange student looking for a Halloween party and shot the kid, who didn't understand "Freeze."

Case sent him into bankruptcy big time IIRC.

A countersuit against the estate would be entirely viable and a good antidote to a wrongful death claim of a criminal intruder's estate. Costs for counseling, the bullets, the loss of the gun during investigation, carpet cleaning and maybe wall patching, loss of sleep, loss of income dealing with the aftermath, pain and suffering, along with the intentional tort of assault (putting one in reasonable fear of unwanted or offensive contact), would all be a smashing start.

[goalie]

It'll cost you over a grand nowdays just to clean up the blood. OSHA requires a hazmat certified cleaning service does the work.

[Jim March]

I had some friends who had their kitchen professionally re-done, and the contractor messed up the main food preparation areas.

That led to a counter-suit.





















































:neener:

[CGofMP]

... and for that Jim, you SHOULD be tarred and feathered.
Boooo Hisss Booooo.. oh boooo.


(Strangely I am working this very moment on putting together a website for a lawyer so this whole thread is particularly poignant.)

Charles

[buzz_knox]

A countersuit is an excellent idea, and I believe intentional infliction of emotional distress would be a viable claim. After all, robbing someone constitutes outrageous conduct.

[foghornl]

There was a case in Akron, OH a couple of years back....
Bad Guy (actually, bad girl) broke in and fired a round at homeowner. BG's gun jammed, and homeowner fired back, wounding said BG. BG filed $600,000 suit against homeowner FROM JAIL.

Don't know the final resolution of this case, but it was in the Akron Beacon-Journal [ahem] newspaper archives.

[M1911]

We have all heard that if you use your firearm for self-defense you can expect to face a civil wrongfull-death lawsuit. I was wondering if anyone ever filed a "counter-suit" to seek damages from the "estate" of the deceased because his "actions" put "you" in a position of "life or death."The problem is that the goblin usually has zero assets. No point in suing if there is nothing to gain. You are the one with the house, car, 401k, savings, job, etc. The junkie that broke into your house at 2 AM doesn't have any money -- if he did, he'd spend it buying drugs.

[buzz_knox]

Who cares if the guy has assets? You're already paying for the lawyer, so you might as well make sure the trier of fact has more reason to think the plaintiff is a scumbag.

[Boats]

The counter-suit wouldn't be about the money, it would be about getting ALL of the FACTS in front of a jury if somehow the case made it past summary judgement.

[QuarterBoreGunner]

This is interesting;

I was involved in a self-defense shooting in 1999; bad guy lived, was convicted and is currently a guest of the state for the next 40+ years w/o possibility of parole. The mutt sued me in civil court for ‘negligent discharge of a firearm, loss of wages’ blah blah blah.

And against my vocal and profane objections, the insurance company for the store I worked for settled for a one-time, take-it-or-leave-it deal of $5000 and he took it. Yes it still bugs the heck out of me.

However, I had retained a lawyer personally and had a counter suit filed and ready to be served if he didn’t take the deal. It was more for a counter-effect than anything else, as the mutt’s mom had a lien against her house (he lived at her house) to cover the medical costs incurred when I shot him, and had already gone into serious debt paying for a lawyer, that eventually quit because he kept telling them that they had no case and to make a deal with the DA. I just wanted the chance to make it clear in civil court that his suit against me was a load of... dung.

Silly bad guy. Enjoy Pelican Bay. See you in 2040 for your parole hearing, if you live.