Can I lose my lawsuit for personal injury claim in a car accident as a result of racial slurs?

[ricki]

I live in New York, a few weeks ago I was rear ended while stopped at a red light. The driver was distracted by his daughter in the backseat and hit me at 40 mph. As a result of the accident my arm was fractured when the airbag deployed in my car. The guy was black, and I was so furious that when I stepped out of the car I was in a fit of rage and starting defaming him with insults such as "hoodrat," "stupid n*gger" and calling him mentally inferior and uneducated. I am certainly not a racist and I said these things out of anger but I'm worried that this man might file a counter lawsuit for harassment or that it will compromise mine.

[chadburne48]

You are a racist. People who aren't racist don't use racial slurs 'in anger'. Good luck trying to get a jury to see past that. You might win your case, but he might counter sue and he'd have a better chance to win.

[rushford79]

There are two separate cases here.

The road accident is clearly his fault, just concentrate on getting your insurance company working to get it settled.

Don't assume he is gonna make anything of your language, he could see you were good and mad and seriously injured, he's probably more worried about YOUR personal injury claim than anything else.

In any case your words are not harassment. You didn't approach him in the street and start in with the name calling. You had been shocked and injured BY HIM and you were angry, upset and frightened. If he mentions it about the wreck just stick to that.