personal injury law tips guidesTo the common person, personal injury law is the familiar term used to describe a situation which results in any form of personal injury. To the law scholars, it’s also known as tort law.

The main objective of personal injury law is to ensure the injured person receives compensation for their injuries which may have resulted from a car accident or any other accident. These injuries may be caused due to negligence, intentional conduct or carelessness from the other party.

In this article, you’ll learn the basics of personal injury law.

Personal Injury

Personal injury applies in a variety of situations including the following:

  • Intentional acts: As the name suggests, these are intentional actions leading to personal harm or injury. Examples include battery and assault or other deliberate acts.
  • Defamation: This may come as a surprise to many people, but it does constitute a personal injury. In this case, defamatory statements may lead to damage to one’s reputation.
  • Defective products: Such cases may be without the knowledge of the defendant. However, they’ll still have to compensate the plaintiff for any harm caused after using their products.
  • Accidents: This is the most common cause of personal injury. In many situations, carelessness and negligence result in accidents and personal injuries. Examples of these accidents include slips and falls, car accidents, medical malpractice, and others.

Who Made Personal Injury Law?

Most of the personal injury laws find their roots in the common laws. These laws, unlike those made by legislatures or passed in the form of bills or statutes, are made by judges. This is how.

A presiding judge may face a case and the verdict given in the case becomes binding and forms a precedent for other courts falling below the presiding judge’s court. Therefore, these courts will use this precedent is such cases moving forward. In the long run, this forms a common law.

However, common law will vary from one state to another, thus the rules applied in a personal injury case may not be the same. Nevertheless, the states can use a common rule book which guides them on what to do in personal injury cases. This common rulebook is known as the Resentment of Torts.

Note that common law is only one of the pillars for personal injury cases. Legislatures are also contributors to this law. An example is the worker’s compensation laws whose main aim is to protect workers at their workplaces.

How it Works

First off, no accident will resemble another. Thus, the cases will not take the same path. However, there’re common procedures followed in these cases.

  • The plaintiff incurs injuries caused by the defendant. This can be due to negligence or deliberate act by the defendant. However, this doesn’t cover contractual breaches. For such cases, contract law will come in handy.
  • Determining a breach of legal duty. Legal duty defines the level of care one should exhibit in a certain situation. Such situations vary, for example, for doctors, they must provide adequate medical care as is expected from a medical professional.
  • Settlement talks. If the defendant is in certain breach of legal duty, then they may offer to settle the matter out of court. In these talks, the defendant may propose a monetary offer as compensation.

If the plaintiff agrees to settle, the case will terminate. On the other hand, if they don’t, then they may proceed to file a lawsuit. For such settlement cases, you need a personal injury lawyer to represent you to get the best deal. You can check out this Philadelphia firm for the best services.

Personal injury law is a wide topic. However, with these basics, you have a general understanding of its origins, what constitutes it, how it works and the general steps involved in resolving the case.