What Is Injury Law?

Injury law is concerned with civil infringements that can harm your mind, body and emotional. The goal of a successful injury lawsuit is to collect the financial compensation you deserve for damages such as medical bills and pain and suffering.

It's hard to avoid injuries, but you should protect yourself as much possible. For instance, if are going to fall backwards, you should rotate your head and block it by using your arms.

Negligence

Someone who has suffered injuries or other damages as a result of someone else's negligence may bring a lawsuit against the negligent party and seek financial compensation. The plaintiff must prove four things to prove their claim: breach of duty, breach, causation and damages.

Negligence is when a person fails to act in the manner that an ordinary person would in similar circumstances. For example, a motorist must follow traffic laws to avoid injuries and accidents to other people on the road. A doctor is required to provide patients with the same care equivalent to what a similarly trained medical professional would provide in similar circumstances. A lawyer can use expert testimony to prove that the defendant's conduct was in line with industry standards.

To prevail in a negligence lawsuit the plaintiff must prove that the breach of the defendant was the primary cause of the injury. This is referred to as legal causation, and a skilled personal injury attorney will argue that the defendant's actions were the only possible reason for their injuries.

The plaintiff must prove that their injuries have caused a verifiable financial loss, like medical bills or lost income. A more serious form of negligence is gross negligence, which involves a complete lack of concern for the safety of others. Gross negligence occurs when a nursing home does not change the bandages on the patient for a number of days. In certain states, defendants are able to use a defense called contributory negligence to prevent the plaintiff from claiming damages.

Statute of Limitations

If the negligent actions of another or careless disregard for your safety causes injury to you or suffer injury, the law allows an unspecified period of time to file a lawsuit, called the statute of limitations. This time frame is determined by the legislature of the state to encourage timely filing and to prevent unreasonable delays.

The time period for filing a claim can vary from one state to the next and also from type of injury to type of injury. In Pennsylvania for instance, car accidents, you have two years to file a personal injury claim. Nevertheless, certain claims may be subjected to the discovery rule. This means that the statute of limitations does not start until the injury is discovered, or ought to have been discovered.

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

If you decide to bring a lawsuit after the statute of limitations has expired the case will be dismissed without hearing. It is therefore essential to speak with an experienced injury lawyer well before the statute of limitations expires.

Damages

A lot of the expenses related to an injury have the potential for a cost. Special damages include medical expenses cost-out-of-pocket, lost wages and the cost of repairing or replacing your property, among other fixed sums. The law does not limit the amount of special damages you can recover.

Other losses are more difficult to quantify, including suffering and pain and loss of 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 lawyers and insurance companies make use of formulas to quantify these losses.

A plaintiff in a sever whiplash case, for instance, may have suffered serious injuries that impact their daily life. They may need help with chores around the home, eat in a different way and avoid recreational activities or a social gathering with their family. The victim may suffer a loss in enjoyment, which can be recouped as general damages.

To estimate the amount of an action for general damages, lawyers or insurers usually start by calculating the total of medical special damages. They then add the value of any lost income. They then multiply this figure by a number that ranges from 1.5 to 5. More severe injuries generally result in greater multipliers.

Liability

In law, the word "liability" refers to a party who is held liable for harm or injury. This could be due to strict liability or negligence. The concept of negligence is the basis of most lawsuits involving injuries. Negligence is the failure to act with reasonable care in the circumstances. Jurors decide what an average person would have done in similar circumstances and decide if the defendant's act or inaction violated the standard. However, some cases are built on strict liability, such as the case where a defective product causes injuries.

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

The majority of personal injury lawsuits involve one plaintiff against several defendants, however, there are some multi-plaintiff suits like class actions and mass torts. One or more plaintiffs could be a corporation like a pharmaceutical corporation or an insurance company, or it could be another person who is similar to you. In these kinds of cases, several parties could 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 wrongdoing get in touch with us immediately to discuss your case.