Personal injuries caused by someone’s negligence can happen anytime and anywhere. Tragedy often ensues in cases where such injuries bring in large-scale physical, emotional, and economic burdens that could have been avoided. The law requires that you be compensated if you have suffered an injury due to the negligent actions of another person, provided you can prove a third party was negligent and failed to act in a reasonable manner that could have prevented the entire situation.
Besides, personal injury law aims to restore an injured person to their former state before they were ‘wrongfully’ harmed. This is achieved by filing a claim in pursuit of compensation for pain, losses, medical expenses, and other costs associated with the injury.
The following blog discusses personal injury law, key concepts, some common types of cases, and steps involved in pursuing a personal injury claim.
1. Understanding Personal Injury Law
Personal injury law encompasses all legal theories and remedies for compensating individuals who have suffered injuries due to the negligence or wrongful conduct of others.
In this category of the law, one can place different arguments in the court regarding where a person gets injured on wrongful grounds.
In Arkansas, negligence is the legal principle behind a personal injury claim. For example, if you are in Little Rock, your Little Rock personal injury lawyer has to argue and prove that the defendant is negligent and has breached a duty of reasonable care owed to the victim.
However, unlike criminal law, a personal injury lawyer does not prosecute a case against the offender as punishment. In fact, in the event that an injury results in a life-altering condition, many personal injury cases work to find compensation for victims of one sort or another.
2. Key Concepts in Personal Injury Law
The main concepts in a personal injury law include:
Negligence
Personal injury law is built on the fundamental concept of negligence. If you’re negligent, you’ve failed to exercise reasonable care toward others, resulting in harm to another person (whether intentional or not).
For example, if you see a red light and fail to stop, you’ll be deemed negligent under personal injury law if, by bad luck, you run over someone and injure them in the process.
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Liability
In personal injury law, your attorney must establish the defendant’s liability to you and the legal responsibility for the injuries sustained. This implies that they have breached their duty of care or acted negligently, which, in the long run, caused your injuries. Establishing liability on the other party for your injuries is the primary basis for compensation.
Damages
Damages is most commonly a catch-all umbrella term for the monetary award given to the plaintiff in a personal injury case. It could also refer to all kinds of financial and non-monetary awards. For instance, you can face multiple damages, including property and pain, which are difficult to deal with. The court often considers the size of these damages to establish the appropriate compensation.
For instance, Arkansas personal injury law provides that a victim has three years to file a personal injury claim following the occurrence of the injury.
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3. Common Types of Personal Injury Cases
Personal injury cases can arise from the variety of accidents or incidents including:
- Car accidents: Car accidents happen every day, and unfortunately, many of them are due to someone else’s sheer negligence, such as drunk driving. The U.S. is one of the countries with the leading number of car accidents, and it’s no coincidence that these are one of the most common types of personal injury cases.
- Slip-and-fall accidents: These types of accidents are often associated with older adults over 65 and can occur in various places, such as stores, parking lots, and sidewalks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reportsthat over a million people are injured in slip-and-fall accidents each year.
- Medical malpractice: Medical malpractice occurs when a healthcare provider fails to provide appropriate treatment or when they provide substandard care that leads to injury or harm. Medical negligence can even lead to wrongful death, which is why you should take the right legal procedures if you believe to be a victim of medical malpractice.
4. The Legal Process for Injury Cases
If the negligence of some other person is to blame for your injuries, you can decide to begin a lawsuit and sue them for damages by filing a personal injury case. The typical personal injury case legal process is comprised of the following:
- First Consultation with a Lawyer: The first step is to consult an attorney specializing in personal injuries. The attorney can inform you of your legal rights and advise you on the best action and procedure to follow during the legal proceedings.
- Investigation and Collection of Evidence: Your lawyer will investigate the accident or incident that is the root cause of the personal injury. It is of great importance to set the evidence for the case. Evidence may include statements from witnesses, police reports, or a medical report.
- Filing a Complaint or Petition: With enough reasons to prosecute, your lawyer files a complaint or petition, providing all the evidence the court requires. The complaint or petition usually comprises all the details of your personal injury case and the damages you intend to seek from the perpetrator.
- Discovery, Depositions, and Document Requests: Evidence alone may not be enough to win a case. The statements, files, and interrogations your lawyer collects are necessary for victories in a personal injury case. Generally, this material is obtained from the other party during the discovery phase, and it should only be those documents relevant to the case being heard.
- Settlement Negotiations/Discussions: Most personal injury cases do not require court action. Data from the U.S. Department of Justice reveals that only 4-5% of cases reach the trial stage. Instead, both sides can agree upon a settlement amount less expensive than going to court.
- Trial: When both parties fail to reach a settlement, the matter proceeds to trial. The evidence and arguments from the opposite sides are presented before the judge or jury, who will use their judgment to bring the case to its logical end.
- Appeals: An appeal is a request that a higher court review the lower court’s decision. Either party may appeal if they are not satisfied with the trial result.
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Final Thoughts
Personal injury law is a complex and constantly evolving area of law nationwide. But the end is still the same— to obtain justice and fair compensation for victims hurt or affected by somebody else’s actions.
Grasping the nuances and processes of personal injury law is of utmost importance, given that, in certain situations, you might need to fight for justice, or even if you are wronged, you could be ordered to pay damages owing to your actions.
