Personal injuries are unfortunate circumstances in which a person has been involved in an accident and has suffered injury/injuries which cause a great deal of suffering, both physically and mentally. Most types of injuries can be classified under personal injury cases regardless of severity. Often it depends on the secondary and tertiary effects of an injury, such as lost wages. At times personal injury can even include emotional pain and suffering as well.
In order to discern if there is a possible personal injury case, after a person has suffered an injury, it is prudent to decide where or what fault there is. For example if a man is working in a warehouse and a crate falls on him, breaking several bones and putting him out of work for several months, it would be likely the company he worked for is at fault. However, if he was the one who stacked the crates, the company would much less likely be at fault.
The reason for this is called reasonable precaution. If an individual does not take reasonable precaution and suffers an injury as a result of not taking reasonable precautions, then they are at fault. Although this sounds straightforward, often reasonable precaution can be obscured and confused. Because of that, seeking a personal injury attorney is important as they will be able to use their skill and expertise to identify if this reasonable precaution has been taken.
Personal injury can be very complicated, and falls under what is known as a tort. A tort is a civil wrong recognized by law as grounds for a lawsuit. Tort falls under 3 categories; intentional, neglect and liability.
Intentional torts are wrong doings which are done with the intention of hurting another person. This would include hitting someone.
Neglect torts are when an individual fails to obey a law, such as running a stop sign, or failure to yield.
If a person was injured due to neglect, it would qualify as a neglect tort.
Liability torts occur when a company person is at fault when a person is injured from using a piece of equipment, etc which is defective.
Torts seldom require jail time, and are designed to give relief to those who have been injured by others and deter others from doing the same. An injured person may sue for an injunction to prevent the continuation of tortious conduct or for monetary damages. The types of damages an injured person may recover would be loss of earning capacity, pain and suffering and reasonable medical expenses, which include both present and future losses.
The various ways an individual can be affected can be difficult to see. A professional personal injury attorney is generally the best person to talk to after a personal injury has occurred. This is because they understand how an injury can affect an individual's life and can work with doctors to determine the long term monetary effects of a personal injury.
An attorney can also help determine if there are mental damages which affect an individual in the long term. Often mental damages can be more difficult to see than physical damages and affected individuals may not even be aware of them.
Because personal injury can be very complicated, finding an attorney is very important. Personal injury can cause a great deal of suffering in any number of ways for a family, so it is incredibly important to seek sound advice from a personal injury attorney when filing a personal injury case.
If you would like to know more about how to make a personal injury claim, please visit our Making A Personal Injury Claim page