Personal injury refers to harm experienced at the hands of someone else’s. The personal injury law was enacted to protect innocent people from injuries sustained due to the negligence of another. The main reason behind the enactment of this law was to claim what would be legally yours if the negligent party had not inflicted any harm. That is to achieve some sort of redress for the unfortunate act. Lawsuits files under personal injury law can fall under several categories like premises liability, mass transit accidents, product liability, workplace liability and medical malpractice. However, the two most common are the motor vehicle accidents and the slip and fall situations.
Slip-and-fall
A lawsuit can be filed under this category when liability occurs on poorly maintained grounds. The plaintiff has hover to prove either hazardous material were unmarked, there were or items wre not stacked in the right order hence resulting in the accident.
Motor Vehicle Accidents
These accidents encompass all types of automotives like a car, motorcycle, truck, bike, personal watercraft and even accidents involving pedestrians. Individuals involved in these accidents have the right to claim damages to property and bodily injuries provided they are measurable in monetary terms.
How Compensation Works
In order to file for a personal injury claim, there are several things that one has to fulfill. First off, the claim must be valid with regards to conditions stipulated in the statutes and must be relatively current so as not to be rendered void by any particular state’s statute of limitation. The law requires the plaintiff to show actual injuries inflicted due to the accident, with legal documents to that effect. The plaintiff also has to prove that the accident occurred at the hands of another and the loss incurred can be settled in monetary terms.
Nowadays however, personal injury claims are resolved through insurance settlements rather than trial. Most people prefer to transfer this responsibility to the insurance company because sometimes the settlement set by the courts is resoundingly high to be met.
The Personal Injury Law Package
The general notion is that personal injuries are limited to cut and bruises, bones breaking or even hospitalization. Although this is all true, personal injury law also allows lawsuits in the nature of:
- Bodily harm
- Financial harm
- Damage of reputation
- Intentional harm
Fraudulent claims
The good thing about any law is that it is not open to manipulation. The personal injury law has contingencies that take care of those individuals hoping to exploit it. Fraudulent lawsuits attract hefty fines to the plaintiff and a prison sentence as well.
