What is Personal Injury in Law?
Personal injury law encompasses those who have been injured due to another’s actions and should seek punitive damages as an appropriate means of discouraging similar conduct in future.
Negligence is one of the primary sources of personal injury claims. Negligence can be defined as failing to act with reasonable care in similar situations.
Cause of Action
Personal injury laws provide for compensation in cases that involve harm to an individual’s body, reputation and emotions caused by either negligent or intentional acts by third parties.
Everyday circumstances that could give rise to a personal injury claim include car accidents, slip and fall incidents, medical malpractice suits or defective products. To prevail in their personal injury suit against defendants, plaintiffs must demonstrate they acted negligently in one or more situations that led to injuries sustained.
Plaintiffs must also demonstrate that the lack of care (breach of duty) by defendant led directly to their injuries and damages. Proving causation involves comparing their actions to what an impartial observer would have done under similar circumstances, then have a jury decide if such violation directly caused this situation.
Causation
Personal injury law covers an expansive array of damages that may be claimed in a claim. To recover any such compensation, it must be proven both directly and proximately that injuries and losses occurred – this process is known as legal causation.
Direct causation involves showing that the defendant’s actions or inaction caused your losses directly. To establish this fact, ask yourself this question: If it weren’t for these defendant actions and my injuries occurring anyway?
Proving proximate causation requires showing that your injuries were both reasonably foreseeable from the conduct and consequences at issue. Our Knoxville personal injury lawyers recognize the significance of establishing both types of causality in your case, so they will help strengthen it through careful and exhaustive evidence gathering and presentation.
Damages
Damages awarded in personal injury lawsuits include financial (e.g., special damages) and non-financial compensation (general damages). Sometimes punitive damages may also be awarded.
Victims of personal injuries may seek reimbursement for more than just medical bills and tangible expenses; they can seek reimbursement for lost income, the cost of repairing or replacing property that has been damaged, as well as damages due to loss of enjoyment of life if their injuries prevent them from participating in hobbies or activities they previously enjoyed.
Attorneys can use evidence such as medical records and psychiatric reports to establish these losses, along with expert testimony supporting their claims. The aim is for any damages award to restore injured parties back to the financial state they would have been in had their accident never taken place.
Statute of Limitations
Many states have laws known as statutes of limitations that set a hard limit on when you can file a suit for personal injuries. If you try to sue someone after this time limit has passed, the court will likely dismiss your case and refuse to hear further action against them.
As there may be exceptions, it’s advisable to consult an attorney in order to assess if your case might fall within this statute of limitations “clock”. It typically starts ticking from either when your injury was discovered, or should have been discovered, to date of injury discovery or reasonably expected.
This can be especially challenging in cases involving wrongful death, wherein it may take too late to discover the source of harm. Furthermore, some personal injury suits have special statutes of limitation for children.
Wrongful Death
Although money cannot replace the love and loss of a lost one, filing a claim sends a clear message that negligent or intentional acts will not be tolerated.
Wrongful death law allows loved ones of the deceased to file civil actions against those at fault for their losses, in order to seek compensation from those at fault. To successfully bring such an action, however, you must demonstrate that their duty of care was breached during their care for the decedent.
These duties include complying with traffic laws, providing quality healthcare, and keeping others safe from harmful products. Personal injury lawyers understand the intricate laws associated with wrongful death cases and will be able to guide you through them efficiently.