What Is Injury Law?

The law of injury deals with civil wrongs that could harm your mind, body and emotions. The goal of a successful lawsuit is to obtain the amount of money you paid for damages like medical bills and pain and discomfort.

It's difficult to avoid such injuries, but it's important to protect yourself as much possible. For instance, if you are likely to fall backwards, rotate your head and block it with your arms.

Negligence

A person who suffers injuries or other losses due to an act of negligence by another person can file a negligence suit and pursue financial compensation. The plaintiff must first prove four factors to prove their case: injury lawyers breach of duty, breach, causation and damages.

Negligence is defined as a person's failure to act with the level of care that reasonable and prudent people have in similar circumstances. A driver, for example, should obey traffic laws to avoid injuries or accidents to other road users. A doctor must treat patients in the same manner that medical professionals with similar training would do in similar circumstances. A lawyer may also rely on experts to prove that the defendant's behavior was below industry norms.

To prevail in a negligence case the plaintiff must prove that the defendant's failure to perform their duty was the direct cause for their injury. This is referred to as legal causation, and a skilled personal injury law firm attorney will claim that the actions of the defendant could have been the sole cause of their injuries.

The plaintiff must prove that their injuries led to an actual loss of money like lost income and medical bills. A more serious type negligence is gross negligence. It involves the complete lack of concern for the safety of others. Gross negligence is when a nursing house fails to change bandages on the patient for several days. In certain states, defendants are able to use a defense known as contributory negligence in order to keep the plaintiff from claiming damages.

Statute of limitations

The statute of limitations is the amount of time that you have to submit a claim when someone is negligent or careless of your safety causes harm. This time frame is determined by the legislature of the state to ensure timely filing and avoid unreasonable delays.

The time period for filing a claim differs from state to state and also depending on the type of injury to the next. In Pennsylvania, for example, car accidents are covered for two years to submit a personal injury attorney claim. However, certain claims could be subject to the discovery rule. This means that the statute of limitation does not begin until the injury is discovered, or could have been reasonably discovered.

In other circumstances that involve intentional torts, including assaults or Injury Lawyers defamation, false imprisonment, and intentional infliction of emotional distress the statute of limitation is extended. It is also possible for a statute of limitations to be tolled or waived, like in the case of an individual who is a minor or who is incarcerated or on military duty.

If you decide to file a suit after the statute of limitation has expired, your case may be dismissed without hearing. It is therefore essential to consult a seasoned injury lawyer before the statute runs out.

Damages

Many of the expenses related to an injury have a price. Special damages include medical expenses cost-out-of-pocket, lost wages and the cost of the repair or replacement of your property, in addition to fixed costs. The law does limit the amount you can claim in special damages.

Other losses are hard to quantify, for instance pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life, and other non-tangible harms. It can be difficult to put a value on subjective losses such as emotional distress or physical discomfort but lawyers and insurance companies make use of formulas to quantify these losses.

For instance, a plaintiff in a personal injury suit for whiplash could have sustained significant injuries that bring a lot of pain and discomfort to their daily lives. They might need to seek assistance with household chores, eat differently, and not be able to enjoy social or recreational activities. The victim may suffer an impairment in enjoyment, which can be recouped as general damages.

To determine the value of a claim for general damages, lawyers and insurers typically begin by calculating the total for medical special damages and then add on the value of any income losses. Then, they will multiply this by a figure between 1.5 and 5. The higher multipliers are generally associated with more severe injuries.

Liability

In law, the term "liability refers to the person who is held accountable for injury or harm. It could be due to strict liability or negligence. Most lawsuits involving injuries are based on the idea of negligence. Negligence is the inability to act with reasonable care in the circumstances. Jurors determine what a reasonable person would have done in similar circumstances, and then determine if the defendant's conduct or inaction broke this standard. However, certain injury cases are founded on strict liability, for instance, when a defective product results in injuries.

Victims may also be entitled to compensation, in addition to the economic damages for non-economic losses, such as pain and discomfort. It's hard to estimate these damages however, our injury lawyers are experienced in maximizing your claim's value.

Certain personal injury lawsuits involve multi-plaintiffs which include class actions or mass torts. One or more of these plaintiffs could be an entity like a pharmaceutical corporation or an insurance company, or it could be another person who is similar to you. In these cases, multiple parties could be held accountable based on the evidence submitted by each plaintiff as well as the results of an investigation. If you've suffered injuries due to the negligence of someone else or due to a wrongdoing and you are injured, call us immediately to discuss your case.