Personal injury law assists in procuring compensation and justice to a person whose mind, body or emotions were hurt by someone else’s purposeful assault, negligence or carelessness including wrongful death and fatal injuries. Another name by which the law is referred is Tort law. Here, the injured person, the ‘plaintiff’ sues the injurer, the ‘defendant’ and demands compensation, mostly money as damages.
The injury that the plaintiff suffers due to defendant’s negligence is referred to as Tort. The tort is a civil wrong recognized by law and eligible for compensation. These are the basis of any personal injury case or tort case for a claim. They can cover simple accidents like dog bite, simple slip and fall to car and motorcycle accidents to intentional harm like physical assault, character and reputation defamation to infliction of emotional distress. Sexual assaults, eve teasing etc also falls in this category.Torts broadly falls into three main categories:-
- Intentional Torts – These are those civil wrongdoings, which are carried out intentionally by the defendant to cause damage, Injury and harm to the plaintiff. Typical intentional torts are –
- Battery – In legal terms, it means hitting someone including sending projectiles into someone’s body like shooting with a gun.
- Assault – It is a battery type with the intention of intimidating a person of an imminent harm. Physical injury may or may not result.
- False Imprisonment – It refers to confining a person without legal authority and against his will.
- Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress- This involves frightening someone and causing severe emotional distress.
- Fraud
- Defamation – This can be both verbal and written.
- Invasion of privacy
- Trespass
- Conversion – This is equivalent to stealing.
- Negligent Torts – These are not deliberate actions but results unintentionally when a person is careless and do not follow the specified code of conduct and legal duty under that circumstance. It also covers omission of duty which harms the other person. The most prevalent type of tort are examples covering cover car accidents and other vehicle accidents, medical malpractice cases and others. Here there should be a breach of duty, which harms the plaintiff.
- Strict Liability – Here the plaintiff suffers damage due to defendant’s dangerous or defective products or actions without any accompanying intent or mental state. Here the responsibility of the injury is on defendant without any proof of negligence or direct fault. Defective Product cases, possession crimes and statutory rape are all examples of it. Injuries due to pet attacks are also included here.