Personal Injury Law
Personal Injury Law – concerns compensation for physical and
emotional injuries suffered by a person as a result of the conduct of
another. The main issues in a personal injury case revolve around your
lawyer proving liability, causation, and damages. Before you can collect an
award, your attorney must prove that the defendant is legally responsible
for your injuries.
Personal injury law involves a strange word to most laypersons. The word
is “torts”. Torts are acts, or failures to act, that interfere with
somebody's freedom to enjoy their personal and property rights. Torts can be
based on: (1) intentional misconduct; (2) strict liability without regard to
actual misconduct; or (3) negligent misconduct.
Intentional misconduct might involve assault, battery, illegally invading
a person's privacy, or intentionally inflicting emotional distress on
another person. There typically is no insurance coverage for intentional
acts, and they are not a large part of any personal injury practice.
Strict liability typically is limited to product failures.
Negligent misconduct is usually what is involved in most personal injury
claims, and typically involves what we commonly call accidents, including
auto accidents, motorcycle accidents, pedestrian accidents, slip or trip and
falls, work place accidents and such.
Whatever type of tort case you have though, you cannot delay your claim
if you want to be compensated for your injuries. If you are considering a
lawsuit based on a tort, you must act promptly. The statute of limitations
for bringing cases based on torts is often quite short. In some states, it's
only a year.
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Negligence |
Learn the meaning of negligence, and about statutes of limitation.
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Who is responsible? |
Learn what it means to be legally responsible for causing an injury. |
| Damages |
Learn
how damages are assessed and about some of the components that make up
damages. |
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What is negligence
Negligence is the failure to use reasonable care. That is, negligence is
measured against what a reasonable person would have done under the same or
similar circumstances. This can include a wrongful act as well as not doing
something, such as not mopping up a spill on the floor. If you are injured or
damaged because someone else acted in a negligent manner, you may have a cause
of action, or a lawsuit, against the person who acted unreasonably. Statutes
of limitation prevent lawsuits from being filed after a certain period of time
from the date of the alleged negligence. Laws concerning personal injury cases
differ from state to state. It is important, then, to consult with an attorney
and understand your rights if you believe you have been injured by the
negligence of another. For more information about negligence, consult a
qualified attorney
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Who is responsible for your negligently caused injury?
Responsibility for an injury negligently caused by another
means (1) one person owed another a duty of care, (2) that person breached, or
violated that duty of care, that is acted “negligently”, (3) the breach of care
caused an injury, and (4) damages resulted from the breach. |
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Personal Injury Damages
A tort is a civil wrong for which the law provides a remedy in the form of
damages.
Recoverable damages include the cost of medical and hospital bills, loss of
earnings, lost earning capacity, property damage, pain and suffering, emotional
distress and any other loss which can be proven. In order to be compensated for
your damages, the court must be able to ascertain the value of the loss. If your
damage claims are too speculative and would require guessing by the court or
jury, you may not recover for them. If you have been damaged by someone else's
wrongful conduct, you should consult with an attorney who can help determine the
value of your damages and the chance of recovery. |
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