What Falls Under Personal Injury Law?

Rohan Mathew

Updated on:

You’ve been hurt, and you’re seeking compensation. How do you go about that? You first need to make a case for personal injury and prove that you’ve been harmed. One of the trickiest things in the process is figuring out whether it’s a case of personal injury or not. You could get a specialized attorney, like those over at JD Injury Law, APC address in San Diego. They’re trained, experienced, and adept at handling personal injury cases and guiding you in your decision-making.

Want a primer on personal injury anyway? Here’s an overview of the legal term, where it applies, and when you can sue for it:

When Can You Sue For Personal Injury?

If you have been harmed or injured by someone, you may sue them for personal injury provided the event satisfies at least one of the following criteria.

  •         Negligence

If a person has an inherent duty to care and fails to fulfill his duty, they can be sued for personal injury under negligence. Failing to follow the law is also negligence. A case for personal injury can be successfully established when you can prove that someone else’s negligent behavior caused you harm.

  •         Strict Liability

Strict liability includes any harm caused to you that is serious enough for you to sue the defendant even in the absence of negligence or intentional misconduct. Some kinds of harm are too severe to consider anything else. Animal bites, product manufacturing defects, and dangerous activities can all be met with a charge of personal injury under strict liability.

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  •         Intentional conduct

When a person tries to hurt you intentionally, you call it personal injury under intentional misconduct. The other party could have caused the injury either to your person or your property.

Common Types of Personal Injury

When faced with an unexpected blow, it can get tricky to identify what category of personal injury it falls under. To make things simpler, here’s a list of common types of personal injury to help you identify where you can slot the one you suffered.

  • Medical Malpractice

Medical malpractice runs rampant throughout the world. Suppose you’re hospitalized and suffer a physical or mental injury due to the negligence of medical professionals. In that case, you can sue them for personal injury under negligence or even call it a violation of the Medical Malpractice Law. In such cases, your lawyer must prove that the doctor or the hospital staff failed to meet their expected standards. The person who caused injury to you due to negligence is responsible for all the loss and damage caused.

  • Injury at Workplace

What will a worker do if they sustain an injury at the workplace? There are no special laws to protect workers from a workplace injury, and that’s the reason they must resort to personal injury laws to claim damages. An injury at your office can lead to expensive medical bills, and you need an experienced lawyer to fight for those. Following are some types of workplace injury:

  1. Accident at a construction site
  2. Internal injuries caused due to repeatedly doing the same strenuous task.
  3. Exposure to hazardous chemicals.
  4. Emotional trauma.
  5. Injury caused by defective machines and tools.
  • Vehicle Accident

Say a vehicle suddenly rammed into you and caused severe physical and mental harm. To claim those damages, you must prove that the driver’s negligence caused the injury. The driver failed to abide by the traffic rules, for instance, and that caused the collision. To establish such a case, you need to ensure your hands are clean. That means the damages can only be recovered when you are not at fault. You need to prove two things here:

  1. Duty to care
  2. Breach of duty
  • Animal Bite

If you own a pet dog, make sure you train your dog well; you don’t want it to bite someone. If an animal you own causes harm to someone else, it could turn into a case of personal injury against you. A dog bite results in expensive medical bills and trauma to the victim. The pet owner is usually liable for the harm caused, and the victim can claim damages for said trauma. When there is more than one owner, the liability is to be borne by all of them.

  • Manufacturing Defect in Product

If a product causes injury to your body or mind due to a manufacturing defect, you can sue the manufacturer for it. Any product purchased should not cause harm to anyone, and the manufacturer must ensure the same. When they fail to fulfill their duty, they’re responsible for the injury they caused. The victim has all the right to claim compensation.

There are a variety of personal injury cases depending on the circumstances that prevail. At times, it can be difficult for a layperson to figure out what remedy he should seek or how to approach the court. That’s why it is essential to hire a personal injury lawyer who has experience in dealing with such cases.  

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