What is Personal Injury Law? Legal Definition & Basics
Suffering from a personal injury can be a life-altering event, and having the correct information can make a huge difference in what happens after the accident. We understand that there’s a lot to consider and learn about the process that follows your injury. We are here to help!
In this article, we want to educate you about the basics of personal injury law that you should know before filing a claim. We’ll cover everything from the definition of personal injury, types of personal injuries, damages, and even what evidence you should keep.
What is the Legal Definition of Personal Injury?
Law depicts personal injury as anything which causes damage to someone else’s body, such as broken bones, bruises, or cuts. Keep in mind that personal injury can also be something that causes damage to someone’s mental health, like a stroke, or emotional injuries, such as stress, anxiety, or depression.
It is important to note that personal injury law encompasses all types of accidents caused by intentional acts or negligence. If you or someone you know suffered an injury due to someone’s negligence, you could be entitled to compensation. Contact us and find out what could be done in your situation.
What is a Personal Injury?
Personal injuries can consist of every type of injury to a person’s body, reputation, or emotions. These kinds of injuries may be grounds for you to file a personal injury lawsuit against the party at fault to recover compensation for the negative financial effects of their actions. Here are some examples:
- Assault: purposely putting another person in reasonable worry of an imminent harmful or offensive action
- Workplace Accidents: includes trips, slips, and falls. Overexertion and muscle strains, struck by falling objects, equipment, or other workers, crashes or collisions, exposure to harmful environments or substances, and explosions and fire
- Automobile Accidents: rear-end collision, sideswipe collision, side-impact collision, head-on collision, vehicle rollover, hit-and-run accident, multi-vehicle accident
- Medical Malpractice: delayed diagnoses, misdiagnoses, surgical malpractice, negligent failure to treat, birth injuries, defective medical devices
- Nursing Home Abuse: physical abuse, neglect, emotional or psychological abuse, and sexual abuse
- Product Defect Accidents: defective manufacturing, defective design, failure to properly instruct or warn
- And More
However, personal injury isn’t limited to bodily harm. There are non-bodily harm personal injury claims, such as:
- Defamation: libel or written defamation, and slander or oral defamation
- Malicious Prosecution: a frivolous lawsuit filed without merits, but instead for ulterior motives that caused you hardship or damages
- Invasion of Privacy: public disclosure of private facts about a person, intrusion of solitude, false light, appropriation of name or likeness
- Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress: sexual abuse or assault, assault and battery causing severe bodily injury, DUI causing death or injury, excessive use of force, knowingly manufacturing or distributing a very dangerous product
- False Detention, Imprisonment, or Arrest
You can look up any injury in our search and find cases with it, investigate what other people did in your circumstances, how their lawyers represented them.
Damages You Can Recoup from a Personal Injury Claim
If you and your attorney can provide proof that the party at fault’s negligence caused your injuries, whether bodily or non-bodily, they may owe you compensation. This compensation will be determined by the amount the victim would need to be returned to the same degree of mental and physical health as before the accident occurred. Economic damages aren’t restricted to specific limitations.
You may be able to recover the expense of medical care you received for accident-related injuries. Additionally, you may be entitled to compensation for financial losses and costs resulting from your injuries. Contact our experts and see how much you can recover for your damages. Here are some examples of damages:
- Non-economic Damages: including pain and suffering, physical disfigurement, compensation disability, mental anguish, and others
- Economic Damages: includes property damage, future and current income loss, and future and current medical expenses
- Punitive Damages: though punitive damages are rare, a judge might include them in a personal injury case for actions that were incredibly reckless or intentional
Is There a Maximum Amount of Damages You Can Receive?
There is a maximum amount that someone can receive for damages. In truth, it can impact the value of a claim and may influence an attorney’s decision to take the case. Non-economic damages will have a limit; this includes mental anguish, pain and suffering, and inconvenience. In the State of California, personal injury victims have a single-digit multiplier of the economic damages they receive. As an example, if someone receives $10,000 in economic damages, the most they can receive from non-economic damages would be $90,000.
What Evidence is Important for a Personal Injury Claim or Case?
It is crucial to collect as much evidence as possible. Even if the evidence in question seems trivial, save it. It might be something that your attorney can use. Take notes after your accident, as your memory will never be more precise than right after it occurs. As more time goes on, you could forget important details. Some things to write down would be how you’re feeling, where you’re hurt, and where the accident occurred. Remember to take notes about your recovery as you progress through your medical appointments.
Hold onto any and all physical evidence you can. Torn or bloodied clothing and belongings damaged in your accident are excellent pieces of physical evidence. Additionally, taking photos of any injuries you sustained immediately after your accident is recommended.
Paperwork can be another crucial piece of information. Though your attorney should handle collecting most of the necessary documentation, your input will be valuable. Obtain responding police officers’ information, document names, and contact information for anyone else involved; doctors, witnesses, or others. Collect as much evidence as possible. If you don’t have attorney, this process might become stressful and tiring. Our best attorneys are ready to shoulder that burden for you. Schedule a call now and we will start your case.
What Happens Next?
You can learn more about different injury types in our Education Library. Our search contains thousand of cases covering most personal injuries, their treatments, and information on how much settlements plantiff won. You could also get your claim rolling by getting in touch with one of our qualified, GL.io-verified attorneys. GreatLawyers is here to provide you with the best service and get the best settlement for your claim.
