Just Who is the Defendant and Can There be More Than One?
Just Who is the Defendant and Can There be More Than One? In many personal injury cases , more than one defendant may be responsible for the same injury. If multiple parties contributed to causing your injuries, you may name all of them as defendants in your lawsuit, and collect damages from everyone responsible. It is critical to the success of your lawsuit that at least one defendant in your case be solvent. A defendant is solvent if he has enough money to pay for your damages. Imagine, for example, that a penniless homeless person throws a large rock which hits your windshield and causes you to have an accident. Even though you may be able to prove that the homeless person was liable for causing your wreck, you won’t be able to recover damages for your injuries since this person clearly has no ability to pay. This is an unfortunate situation, but one that does come up from time to time. In many instances, however, a defendant may claim to be insolvent but actually have the abilit...