The American Bar Association (ABA) says that filing a case in court to go after compensation for your losses when someone else injures you through carelessness qualifies as a personal injury lawsuit. In some situations, you can pursue a personal injury case against someone whose intentional or illegal act harmed you.
Sometimes you can pursue a personal injury case because someone else got harmed. Wrongful death statutes allow legal beneficiaries to pursue money damages when a close relative dies from injuries received from a third party, whether through negligent or intentional conduct. Also, parents of young children can file lawsuits on behalf of the children when they get hurt through the carelessness or wrongful acts of others.
What You Need to Know About Negligence Lawsuits
Many personal injury lawsuits arise out of the legal theory of negligence. We cannot automatically sue someone merely because he was in the same car accident as you. We have to prove all four of these elements to hold someone responsible for your losses:
Duty of Care
The defendant must have owed you a duty of care. Some negligence personal injury cases arise out of vehicle crashes. Everyone who operates a car, truck, motorcycle, or another vehicle on public streets has a duty to exercise reasonable care when behind the wheel.
Breach of Duty
When a person’s conduct does not match up to the legal standard of reasonable care, that person is negligent. If a person drove a car while groggy because of prescription painkillers from a back injury and these drugs negatively impacted this person’s ability to operate the vehicle with reasonable care, this driver would have breached their duty of care and would be negligent.
Causation
The other driver’s negligence has to cause your accident. In the above scenario, the painkillers slowed the driver’s reflexes in a way that he did not apply the brakes in time to stop at a red light. He struck your car, which was proceeding through the intersection legally under a green light. The other driver’s careless act of driving while impaired caused the collision.
Measurable Damages
You must have losses that one can quantify to have a valid personal injury claim. Typically, you must have a physical injury.
Once we can prove all four of these factors, we can pursue financial compensation on your behalf.
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What You Need to Know About Personal Injury Lawsuits for Intentional Torts
Getting hurt from an intentional act can qualify as a personal injury lawsuit. Sometimes a person gets injured because of a deliberate or illegal act, rather than carelessness. Some crimes can also be torts, which are civil wrongs. The defendant can face both criminal charges and a lawsuit for financial compensation.
In intentional tort cases, we have to prove the elements of the civil wrong. Even if the defendant does not get convicted of a crime or strikes a plea bargain with the prosecutor, the civil lawsuit can go forward because criminal and civil cases have different burdens of proof.
About Strict Liability and Personal Injury
In some instances, it is not necessary to prove that the defendant made a mistake. Some conduct is inherently dangerous by nature. The law may hold the defendant liable regardless of the precautions the defendant took to avoid harm in the specific situation that occurred. For example, using explosives to demolish an old building is a high-risk activity. The demolition company can be liable to anyone who gets harmed in the process.
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Potentially Recoverable Damages in Personal Injury Lawsuits
After proving all the required elements for your type of personal injury lawsuit, we can seek financial compensation from the at-fault party. We cannot speculate as to how much money you could receive for your claim. We need to talk to you and investigate your case before we can calculate the amount of damages you could pursue. Every case is different.
Here are a few examples of the types of compensation we have won for our clients in the past:
- The reasonable cost of medical treatment you needed for your injuries
- Lost wages to compensate you for the time you missed from work without pay because of the injury or illness
- Long-term care, if your injuries leave you unable to perform necessary medical treatments and self-care without assistance
- Pain and suffering, which the Legal Information Institute (LII) defines as “physical or emotional distress resulting from an injury”
- Other intangible damages, such as disfigurement, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), chronic anxiety, or loss of enjoyment of life
These are but a few examples of money damages that can be available in a personal injury suit, depending on the facts of your situation.
How a Lawyer Can Help with Your Personal Injury Lawsuit
If you got hurt because of the actions of someone else, whether your case involves negligence, intentional tort, or strict liability, you can Call in the Strong Arm of Loncar Lyon Jenkins. We handle personal injury claims on a contingency fee basis, which means that you do not pay us upfront legal fees. We get paid out of the settlement proceeds or award at the end of the matter.
You may have very little time to file a lawsuit seeking financial compensation for your injuries. If you miss a relevant deadline in your state, you will lose the right to pursue money damages for your losses.
You can call Loncar Lyon Jenkins today at 877-239-4878 to get started and to receive more information about what qualifies as a personal injury lawsuit. The initial consultation is at no charge, and there is no obligation. We can help if your loved one was harmed in an accident, as well.
