Most people have heard the term “personal injury” before from one source or another. When one hears the term “personal injury”, one generally immediately thinks about a car accident case. A car accident case certainly does fall under the personal injury purview, but there are an infinite number of other situations that can give rise to a personal injury accident case. So what makes a case a personal injury accident case?
Personal injury law grew out of the need to compensate victims who were injured due to the fault of another person. This area of the law is known as “tort” law. There are three basic types of torts – strict liability torts, intentional torts and negligent torts. Strict liability torts basically make the defendant responsible for his acts regardless of whether he tried to prevent damage. A good example of an intentional tort is found in some states with regard to dog bite injuries. Some states have determined that certain breeds of dogs are inherently dangerous regardless of any attempt to prevent injuries. Therefore, if the dog bites someone, the owner is liable regardless of any action the owner took to contain the dog or prevent injury. Intentional torts are injuries that stem from intentional acts – as the name implies. For example, if a burglar enters your house with the intention to rob you, and in the process hits you over the head, aside from a variety of criminal charges he can also be sued for an intentional tort for the injuries you suffered as a result of the blow to the head. The last group of torts – negligent torts – are where the vast majority of personal injury cases are found.
A negligent tort requires that four basic elements be met: duty, breach, causation and damages. The defendant must owe a duty of reasonable care to the plaintiff. The defendant must breach the duty of case. The breach must be the cause of any injuries and last the plaintiff must prove damages (injuries) as a result of the breach of duty. What this means in layman’s terms is that the defendant had a responsibility to the plaintiff to be careful…he wasn’t careful…his lack of caution caused injuries to the plaintiff. Courts have decided that drivers of a car have a duty of care to the other people on the road so car accident cases are definitely an example of a personal injury accident case. Stop and think, however, of all the other relationships that could give rise to a personal injury accident case. A doctor has a duty of care to a patient, an employer to an employee, a store owner to his customers and a pet owner to the people that come into contact with his pet. Once you understand what makes a case a personal injury case you begin to see the infinite number of circumstances that could give rise to a personal injury accident case.
If you think that you may have a California personal injury accident case and would like a free and detailed evaluation of your potential lawsuit, please contact the law firm of Ledger & Associates at 1-800-300-0001 or visit the firm’s website at www.ledgerlaw.com.
