Personal Injury and Damages

Personal Injury can be of a number of types including medical negligence claims, car accident claims, defamation or libel claims, intentional tort claims, dog bite claims, slip and trip or premises liability claims and toxic tort cases. The similarity between all the mentioned cases is that all these cases caused harm to the claimants with no fault of their own, but because of breech of legal duty.

When a person suffers a personal injury, because of no fault of their own and realizes that he should get compensated for the lack of caution taken by his employer for example, there are a few points to keep in mind.

One of the most important is gathering evidence, and conducting some research on similar cases to prove fault. For instance, a medical malpractice tort requires the testimony of an expert witness explaining how the doctor provided care at a standard below that which a physician with his experience and background should have provided. A car accident claim, on the other hand, may involve presenting witnesses to the accident or the testimony of an accident reconstruction expert to show how the actions of the driver fell short of what a hypothetical reasonable driver would do.

The evidence required by every plaintiff to prove that more likely than not not (i.e., by a preponderance of the evidence) that:

1. A legal duty existed. A legal duty means that the person has a legal obligation to act with a certain level of care and caution. Everyone has a duty to act with reasonable care anytime they act in a way that might foresee harm to another person.
2. The legal duty was breached. If the defendant didn’t use as much caution as a reasonable person would generally have used, the defendant probably breached the duty of care.
3. The breach was a direct/proximate cause of harm. In other words, whatever the defendant did either directly caused the injury to the plaintiff, or was a factor in whatever caused the injury.
4. There was harm. This involves proving damages, which may include medical costs, lost income, and damages for pain and suffering, among other types of damages.

A claimant, who files for a personal injury claim and is successful, is entitled to all medical costs incurred, lost income, and even emotional, physical distress compensation. Some cases can also be settled out of court through mutual discussion between the two parties and reaching a settlement figure. When the case cannot be settled with mutual consent it is the duty of the jury and judge to pass affirmation on case for personal injury and compensation.

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