Liability for personal injury: Your rights

Questioner

About 12 years ago I got hit in the face which damaged my teeth and jaw. The perpetrator was arrested for this and the case went to court. At the time they tried to repair it as best they could but that was not entirely successful. I suffer a lot from this and want to have it repaired by getting braces. I am only starting this now because it is not easy for me mentally to deal with what happened and how my teeth look now. However, I would like to do something about it now because I notice that it is hindering me in daily life. Now I want to hold the perpetrator liable for this and recover the costs from him. I assume that he is already liable because he has been convicted for this but I understand that the first step is to send him a letter in which I let him know that I hold him liable for this. I know his name and place of residence but unfortunately I do not have his full address. Now I do not really know how to proceed. How do I make sure that this letter gets to the right person? Thank you very much, Kind regards, K.

Lawyer

What an annoying situation. In principle, a limitation period of 5 years applies. In your case, this may be longer if mistakes were made in the restoration of your jaw and teeth. In that case, a limitation period of 20 years applies and you can still rely on that. You would do well to engage a personal injury specialist who can represent your interests. I can assist you in this. The legal costs to be incurred will have to be reimbursed by the other party. Please contact me without obligation and free of charge to see what I can do for you in this.

Lawyer

You could also contact your health insurer. If the costs to be incurred are (partly) reimbursed by them, they have an interest in recovering them from the perpetrator. You may be able to contact them for costs that are not covered by them.

Questioner

Thanks for your response. I have contacted my health insurer as well as the health insurer's claims service. Unfortunately, they say they can't do anything for me because it happened so long ago. All costs that I have to make are not covered by my insurance anyway.

Questioner

Thanks for your response. I have contacted my health insurer as well as the health insurer's claims service. Unfortunately, they say they can't do anything for me because it happened so long ago. All costs that I have to make are not covered by my insurance anyway.