Personal Injury: Personal Injury includes many types of cases. Unfortunately, one cannot anticipate personal injury and it can become very disruptive in one’s life. Personal injury can include a slip and a fall, an auto accident, a dog bite, injury from a defective product, an assault, or a wrongful death. You can request compensation for past and future medical expenses, past and future lost wages, loss of consortium, and pain and suffering. In some cases, you might even have a claim for punitive damages.
Negligence: A typical personal injury case involves negligence on the part of a person or business. Negligence is the failure to exercise due care a reasonable person would exercise in the same situation. In order to determine negligence, courts must find duty, breach of duty, causation, and damages. Duty is the responsibility to ensure safety from predicted injuries. Breach of duty is the actions by the responsible individual that infringes on any duty of care. Causation is proof of a direct or indirect connection between the injury and the violating actions. Damages is the loss resulting from the injury that can be remunerated financially.
Strict Liability: Strict liability holds people accountable for, among other things, manufacturing and designing defective products. This is typically known as products liability. It is liability without fault. In these cases, the claimant does not need to establish negligence of the manufacturer. In product liability, one does not have to prove why the product went wrong, just that it went wrong. The two common areas of strict liability are abnormally dangerous activities and defective products. Abnormally dangerous activities includes harm to an individual resulting from the activity of the product. Defective products specifically examines the product that was placed on the market.
Intentional Torts: The third type of personal injury claim one might have is an intentional tort. Intentional torts are when a person acts with intent which causes the plaintiff harm. That does not require the damages to be proven. Some examples of intentional torts include false imprisonment, assault, battery, conversion, and trespass.
Personal injury can have serious challenges and it is important to seek an attorney for better help and guidance. Each circumstance is different and requires different plans of action. Contact the Law Offices of Debra A. Saltz at 410-346-3577 to schedule your consultation.
