Can i pursue legal action for a botched peircing
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Can i pursue legal action for a botched peircing
I had my naval area peirced before
christmas around a month ago i
picked out the jewlry that i wanted and
had it done but I did not see the jewlry
get sterilized and it was also crooked
after it was pierced I put it down to
swelling I signed a document before I
got pierced but was never asked for i.d
and it was also done at a barber shop
the piercing is very crooked and I have
suffered non stop infection from it since
the day I had it done I cannot take the
piercing out as there is a risk of abses
development due to the infection its
affecting my daily life dramaticly I
contacted the salon but they have me 2
options 1. Take it out and have it redone
or 2 . Leave it there and have a crooked
piercing
Asked on January 14, 2018 under Personal Injury, Alaska
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 6 years ago | Contributor
Legally, if they were negligent, or unreasonably careless, in how they did the piercing, you could sue them. The problem is, you can only sue for actual medical or similar costs you incurred, or for some amount for "pain and suffering" if it has a long lasting and significant effect on your life which is *medically verified*--that is, you would need medical expert testimony at trial to prove the cause, extent, and prognosis for the injury. Unfortunately, 1) for an infecting lasting two months, you are probably talking several hundred dollars to at most a very few thousand, depending on exactly how severe, in "pain and suffering," but you have to pay for your own medical expert and cannot recover that cost from the other side. Given that such experts can charge many hundred to several thousand dollars to examine you, write a report, and testify, you could spend as much or more on the case then you get back, at least unless you incur large medical bills or something worse occurs. You cannot recover the possibility of a bad outcome--for example, of the "risk of abscess"--but only for what does in fact occur. This may not be economically worthwhile pursuing.
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