Personal Injury Law - Basic Information About Tort Lawsuits and Personal Injuries

                                                                                         

Personal injury law, also known as tort law, is a section of law that serves two purposes.

1) It designates what a personal injury is.
2) It provides the injured person the opportunity to collect restitution.

Generally speaking, a personal injury occurs when a person suffers harm because of another person’s negligence or failure to act. The personal injury can be either physical or psychological in nature or both. Many types of torts fall within personal injury law.

The person who suffers a personal injury is the Plaintiff in a tort lawsuit. The person(s) and/or corporation(s) whom the Plaintiff alleges were negligent and caused the Plaintiff’s injury are the Defendants. The number of defendants in a tort action varies according to the circumstances of the event.

Tort actions determine whether the Defendant is liable--responsible and obligated--for the Plaintiff’s injuries and, if so, the amount of appropriate compensation payable by the Defendant to the Plaintiff for those injuries.

The most common form of lawsuit commenced under personal law injury specifies negligence on the part of the Defendant must be proven before compensation is awarded to the Plaintiff. This means the Plaintiff must show the Defendant: committed an act where injury to the Plaintiff was reasonably foreseeable; owed the Plaintiff a duty of care not to cause harm; and failed to exercise that duty of care towards the Plaintiff.

A second form of lawsuit which can be initiated under personal injury law is based on “strict liability”. This situation may arise from a defective product or workplace accident which caused the Plaintiff personal injury. A Plaintiff does not have to prove negligence in these circumstances. Instead, the Plaintiff must demonstrate the defective product was dangerous when used as designed for an intended purpose.

The third type of lawsuit governed by personal injury law is intentional misconduct. An example of intentional misconduct is a person who purposely physically assaults another. A Defendant accused of intentional misconduct can be sued in a civil proceeding by the person assaulted under personal injury law, as well as face criminal charges laid by the government. In other words, the Defendant would face two separation actions, one by the Plaintiff and one by the government.

About the author:
For more information on your legal entitlements, it is important to speak with a team of skilled defective product attorneys, truck accident attorneys, and personal injury attorneys in Pennsylvania to learn more.

Article Source: http://www.Free-Articles-Zone.com