What Is Injury Law?

Injury law is concerned with civil wrongs which can cause harm to your body, mind and even your emotions. The goal of a successful injury lawsuit is to recover monetary compensation for damages like medical bills and pain and suffering.

It's difficult to avoid injuries such as this, but it's important to take precautions as much as you can. If you're likely to fall forward, you should turn your head to protect it, and use your arms to help.

Negligence

A person who has sustained injuries or other damages as a result of another's negligence can file a lawsuit for negligence and seek financial compensation. To prove their case the plaintiff will need to establish four elements that are: breach of duty, causation, and damages.

Negligence refers to the failure to act in a manner that a reasonable person would do under similar circumstances. A driver, for example must follow traffic laws to prevent accidents or harm to other road users. A doctor is required to treat patients in the same way that an individual who has the same training would under similar circumstances. Lawyers may also rely on expert testimony to show that the defendant's behavior was short of the standards set by industry.

To win a negligence case the plaintiff must show that the breach of the defendant was the main cause of the injury. This is referred to as legal causation. A reputable personal injury lawyer will argue that the defendant's actions were the sole cause of the plaintiff's injuries.

The plaintiff must show that their injuries have resulted in a verifiable financial loss, like medical bills or loss of income. A more serious form of negligence is gross negligence, which involves the complete lack of concern for the safety of others. A nursing home that does not change a patient's bandages for a period of time is an example of gross negligence. In certain states, defendants are able to use a defense called contributory negligence to stop the plaintiff from claiming damages.

Statute of Limitations

If the negligence of someone else or reckless disregard for your safety causes injuries to you or suffer injury, the law allows an amount of time to bring a lawsuit, referred to as the statute of limitations. The statute of limitations is set by the state's legislature to encourage timely filing and to prevent unreasonable delays.

The statute of limitation varies between states and also according to the type of injury attorney. For instance in Pennsylvania personal injury cases, such as car accidents, you typically have two years from the date of the accident to file claims. However, certain claims could be subject to what's known as the discovery rule, meaning that the statute of limitations does not start until the injury is discovered or should have been discovered.

In other cases, such as those involving intentional torts, such as assaults and defamation, false imprisonment and deliberate infliction or damage to emotional distress, the statute of limitations is extended. A statute of limitations could also be waived or tolled in specific situations, for instance when a minor is involved, or the person is on military duty or in jail.

If you decide to file a lawsuit after the time limit has expired your case will be dismissed without being heard. This is why it is essential to consult an experienced injury attorneys attorney well before the statute of limitations runs out.

Damages

Many of the costs related to an injury have a price. Special damages include medical costs, out-of-pocket expenses, lost earnings and the cost of repairing or replacing your property, in addition to other fixed amounts. The law limits the amount you can recover in special damages.

Other losses are hard to quantify, such as suffering and pain and loss of enjoyment of life, and other intangible harms. It isn't always easy to put a dollar value on subjective losses such as physical or emotional discomfort however attorneys and insurance companies employ formulas to quantify these losses.

A person who is the plaintiff in a whiplash case, for example might have suffered serious injuries that affect their daily life. They might have to seek assistance with household chores, have a different diet, and avoid socializing or participating in recreational activities. The victim may suffer an absence of enjoyment, and this can be recouped as general damages.

To determine the value of the 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. They will then multiply this amount by a value ranging from 1.5 to 5. More severe injuries usually result in higher multipliers.

Liability

In law it is a matter of liability. It refers to the person found to be responsible for harm or injury. This can be due to negligence or strict liability. The concept of negligence is the foundation of the majority of lawsuits involving injuries. Negligence means that you have failed to act in a reasonable manner and with diligence in the circumstances. The jury decides what reasonable people in similar circumstances would have done and decides if the defendant's actions or inactions were in violation of this standard. However, certain injury cases are founded on strict liability, like when a defective product results in injuries.

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

The majority of personal injury lawsuits are brought by one plaintiff against several defendants, however, there are some multi-plaintiff suits like class actions or mass torts. These plaintiffs can be companies, such as an insurance company or a pharmaceutical company, or they could be individuals just like you. In these kinds of situations, multiple parties can be held liable depending on the evidence presented by each plaintiff and on the findings of a thorough investigation. If you've been hurt by someone else's negligence or wrongful act and you are injured, call us immediately to discuss your case.