Dear Anna, the remainder of your post came up and now I see you are in MN.

I must urge you to reconsider any decision to file in Conciliation court. Conciliation Court is also known as "small claims" court. Claims of $7,500 or less can be filed in Conciliation Court. Once you file a claim, you cannot later file another claim for more money related to the same event(s). Conciliation Court procedures are easier to follow and the filing fee is lower than the District Court level. You do not need a lawyer to go to Concilation Court. However, your damages could be far highter than $7500! (I know that employees and sue employer for wages, but I'm not seeing that a personal injury plaintiff can't sue the the liable defendant. You not only have medical expenses, lost wages, 'pain and suffering' which is the mainstay of a personal injury suit. This is the part of damages where the big bucks are involved. Not to sound mercenary here, but I'm sure you suffered pain and suffering, couldn't play hoops for a while, etc. Moreover, depending on your current medicals, you could have permanent damages, maybe some pain on rainy days, or pain when you walk to far, etc. Maybe you had to be on crutches all summer of 2008 and lost all of your normal summer enjoyment for an entire season. Maybe your big skiing hobby is really not safe to do anymore and so you can't ski anymore. These are the losses to quality of life that add value to your case.

OK, and let's say you are the kind of person (and I understand this) that says, no, I just want my out of pocket losses covered, I don't want to sue for that. Here is why you may also want to at least approach it from that way: If you sue in small claim, the defendant knows that worst case scenario, he is on the hook for $7500, no matter what. So, he can't hurt himself by fighting it and he has no incentive really to settle it before hand to avoid a risky verdict of a high amount. In the higher court, however, the sky is the limit (so to speak) and you could get a 6 figure award against him. He may have incentive to settle it to protect himself. You could still be generous with him if you chose. I.e. medicals and loss of wages and $10k for pain and suffering, but you could go the length too if he is not amenable to paying up somewhat for what he has caused.

Hope this helps to clarify.

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