Personal injury claims cover a broad range of situations where a party's negligence or intentional action causes harm to another. Personal injury can occur to the mind, body or emotions of a person, but does not apply to property. The statutes for personal are purposely kept ambiguous to allow for a broad range of situations to fit under them. There are however a range of typical situations that give rise to personal injury cases. Here are some of the most common:
Car Accident
Car accidents occur nearly every minute of every day in the US and many of these accidents involve someone being injured. Every state allows someone injured in a car accident to pursue financial compensation for their injuries. Drivers can be held responsible for carelessness, not following the rules of the road, and even mental lapses. However, not all car accidents result in personal injury claims. Car accident claims are by far the largest group of personal injury claims filed each year in the US.
Assault
Assault claims are a class of personal injury claims that are based on a person intentionally causing harm to someone. This harm can be physical or emotional with emotional claims being harder to prove. Assault claims are almost always related to a criminal case where the perpetrator is also charged criminally. However, the civil courts allow victims of assault to seek compensation for their injuries, even when prosecutors fail to file criminal charges. In some jurisdictions, victims may also be entitled to punitive or other non-monetary damages.
Medical Malpractice
Medical practitioners have an obligation to provide a minimum standard of quality care to all of their patients. When this does not occur and the patient is injured, the patient may have the right to pursue damages from the medical practitioner. These cases are often very nuanced and complicated and can take a long time to settle.
Premises Liability
Premises liability cases involve a type of personal injury resulting when some is injured because a property owner or someone in control of that property via lease or rental agreement, has neglected to keep it reasonably safe and free of hazards that can cause injury to someone. Not all injuries that occur on the property will lead to liability and the exact nature of a landowner's legal duty varies depending on the situation and according to the laws in place in the state where the injury occurred. These types of claims are often called slip and fall cases.
Defective Product
Defective products are extremely dangerous for many different reasons. One primary reason is that it can undermine the public trust that the products they purchase are safe. The other of course is that the defects can cause injury and even death. Even though all products are required by law to be manufactured safely, and for potentially hazardous products, to offer clear instructions on the products safe use, this does not always happen. When a product does not work like it should causing someone injury, the company can be sued. These cases like medical malpractice can be intricate and hard to prove. And the burden of proof varies from state to state.
Determining whether you have a personal injury claim requires experts like Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C., who have a track record for recovering money from client's personal injury claims. They offer a free case evaluation at Free Case Evaluation. Call 877-975-7991.