What Is Injury Law?

Injury law deals with civil wrongs that could harm your mind, body and emotions. The goal of a successful injury lawsuit is to secure money for damages like medical bills and pain and suffering.

It's not easy to avoid injuries, but it's important to be sure to safeguard yourself as much as you can. For instance, if you are about to fall backwards, you should turn your head around and protect it by using your arms.

Negligence

A person who has sustained injuries or other injuries as a result someone else's negligence may file a lawsuit for negligence and seek financial compensation. But, the plaintiff must prove four things to establish their claim: breach of duty, breach causation, damages and breach of duty.

Negligence is the inability to act in a way that an ordinary person would in similar circumstances. For instance, a driver must obey traffic laws to avoid accidents or harm to other road users. A doctor is required to treat patients in the same manner that an individual who has the same training would in similar circumstances. Lawyers can make use of expert testimony to prove that the defendant's behavior fell below the standards of industry.

To win a negligence claim the plaintiff must prove that the defendant's failure to perform their duty was a direct cause of their injuries. This is known as legal causation. A good personal injury lawyer will argue that the defendant’s actions were the sole reason for the plaintiff's injuries.

The plaintiff has to prove that their injuries resulted in an actual financial loss, like medical bills or loss of income. A more serious type negligence is gross negligence, which is an unintentional disregard for others' safety. Gross negligence occurs when a nursing home is not able to change bandages for patients for a period of time. In some states, defendants may use a defense known as contributory negligence to stop the plaintiff from claiming damage.

Statute of Limitations

The statute of limitations is the time limit that you must make a claim if negligence or reckless disregard of your safety causes you harm. This time limit, set by the state legislature, is meant to encourage prompt filing and prevent unreasonable delay.

The time period for filing a claim can vary between states and also from type of injury to kind of injury. For instance in Pennsylvania personal injury cases such as car accidents, you generally have two years from the date of the accident to submit an action. However, certain claims can be subject to the discovery rule. This means that the statute of limitation is not set until the injury is discovered or should have been reasonably discovered.

In some instances, like cases involving intentional torts such as assaults and false imprisonment and defamation and intentional infliction emotional distress, the limitations period can be extended. The statute of limitations may be waived or tolled in specific circumstances, like when minors are involved, or a person is on military duty or incarcerated.

If you try to file a suit after the statute of limitation has expired, your case may be dismissed without hearing. This is why it is essential to consult an experienced lawyer for injury before the statute of limitations runs out.

Damages

Many of the expenses related to an injury have a price. These are known as special damages. They could include medical expenses, out-of-pocket expenses, lost wages, the cost to repair or replace your property, and other fixed costs. The law limits the amount you can recover from special damages.

Other losses are hard to quantify, for instance pain and suffering, loss in enjoyment of life, as well as other intangible harms. It can be difficult to determine an exact value on subjective losses such as physical or emotional discomfort, but insurance companies and attorneys use formulas to quantify the amount of these losses.

A person who is a plaintiff in a whiplash case, for instance could have suffered severe injuries that impact their daily life. They may have to seek help with household chores, eat differently, and avoid socializing or enjoying leisure activities. The victim may experience an impairment in enjoyment and this is a redressable loss as general damages.

To estimate the value for a claim of general damages, lawyers or insurers typically begin by calculating total of medical special damages. They then add the value of any income loss. Then, they will multiply this by a number between 1.5 and 5. Higher multipliers are usually associated with more severe injuries.

Liability

In law, liability refers to the person who is responsible for an injury or harm. It could be due to negligence or strict liability. Negligence is the foundation of the majority of lawsuits for injuries. Negligence involves failing to act with a reasonable degree of care in the context of the situation. Jurors consider what reasonable people would have done in similar circumstances and decide if the defendant's actions or inaction violated the standard. However, some cases are built on strict liability, like when a defective product results in injuries.

In addition to damages for economic losses, victims could be entitled to compensation for non-economic damages like pain and suffering. The amount of these damages is hard to place a value on however, our skilled injury lawsuits lawyers are skilled at maximizing the value of your claim.

Some personal injury lawsuits involve multi-plaintiffs, such as mass torts or class actions. These plaintiffs can be companies, such as insurance companies or injury lawsuits a pharmaceutical firm, or they could be individuals like you. In these instances, multiple parties could be held accountable depending on the evidence provided by each plaintiff as well as the results of an investigation. If you've been hurt by someone else's negligence or wrongful act, contact us right away to discuss your case.