When people think about personal injury attorneys, they often imagine someone who represents a client who has fallen, been in a car accident, or been attacked by a dog. These types of personal injury cases are all common, but many of these attorneys also handle a variety of cases that fall under the intentional tort header. These are cases that may involve an injury, but don't necessarily result in you being hurt. Trespassing is a common example of an intentional tort — and while it doesn't hurt you, it's an act against you and your property. While there may or may not be merits to you pursuing a trespassing case legally, here are some reasons to retain a personal injury lawyer and pursue a trespassing intentional tort case.
To Punish
One of the reasons that you may want to pursue a trespassing case is to punish the person who has acted against you and your property. This might not be relevant for a first-time offense, but if you've repeatedly had the same person coming onto your property for any reason, and you've frequently warned him or her about trespassing, you may feel as though it's time to teach the person a lesson. Your personal injury attorney can prepare a suit that seeks damages for this action, which serves as a punishment for the person's failure to respect your property.
To Set A Precedent
Another reason to pursue a trespassing case is to set a precedent. This may be worthwhile if there are a lot of people in the area who are trespassing onto your property. If you focus an intentional tort suit on one person, word will quickly spread among the others that you're serious about keeping people off your property. When one person faces legal issues because of his or her actions, it's not unreasonable to think that anyone else who has been trespassing will stop this behavior right away.
To Protect Your Investment
A big reason to pursue such a case is to protect your investment. For example, if you own farmland and people have been riding their ATVs through one of your fields, this type of trespassing is particularly egregious because it may be affecting your crops and thus costing you money and time. An intentional tort case can go a long way toward protecting the investment that you've made in your crops by hopefully curtailing the behavior of one or more parties who have been trespassing.
