Personal Injury Law Definitions

What Is Personal Injury Law?

“Personal injury” is a common legal term used to describe harm to one’s body, mind, or emotional well-being. Personal injury law is the broad branch of law that handles conflicts where one person (intentionally or inadvertently) causes suffering, harm, injury, or unfair loss to another. It is closely related with tort law, which ensures the right to compensation when one person harms another’s legally protected interests.

Personal Injury Cases Fall Under Civil Law

In the United States, there are two predominant areas of law: criminal law and civil law. Although they share the common purpose of deterring wrongdoing, they differ in many critical ways. Personal injury cases fall under the civil branch of law — let’s take a look at the differences between criminal and civil law to understand why.

Criminal law describes “the law of crimes and their punishments,” according to Merriam-Webster. It encompasses offenses against society at large rather than offenses against a private individual or entity. This could mean a literal offense against the government itself (like assaulting a government official), but more commonly, it simply means breaking laws established by the government.

Criminal offenses are often regarded as more serious than civil offenses, and only a state or federal government can bring charges to initiate a criminal law case. Criminal cases are often more complex, require stricter standards of proof, have longer statutes of limitations, and carry much higher consequences than civil cases do. Some examples of types of criminal law disputes include assault, theft, driving under the influence, or obstruction of justice.

Civil law, according to Merriam-Webster, is “the law of civil or private rights.” It encompasses disputes between two private parties, such as individuals, groups of people, or organizations and companies. The offense that caused harm may not have been a criminal act (i.e., it may not have broken any established laws), but the harmed party is still permitted to seek justice and damages for any injuries sustained as a result of another’s behavior.

Because personal injury cases deal with conflicts between two private entities, they fall under the civil branch of law. However, if one single incident constitutes both a private injury and a public offense, it can result in parallel civil and criminal cases.

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Types of Personal Injury Cases

There are many scenarios that may warrant a personal injury case. Any time a person or private entity causes harm to another through negligence, gross negligence, reckless conduct, intentional misconduct, or in some cases on the basis of strict liability, then the injured person is eligible to seek damages.

Types of personal injury cases include:

1. Motor vehicle accidents: Car accidents, trucking accidents, motorcycle accidents, bus accidents, and even bike accidents are common catalysts for personal injury cases, since most road accidents happen because someone isn’t being as careful as they should or following all the rules of the road, or because the road has not been properly maintained.
2. Slip and fall accidents: may also be a cause for personal injury cases, if the property owner neglects their legal duty to keep the premises free of hazards.
3. Medical malpractice: cases can arise when a medical professional provides a substandard degree of care that results in injury to their patient. (It is important to note that poor results from treatment do not always mean medical malpractice has occurred.)
4. Dangerous and defective products: If a product does not work the way it should, it can lead to serious injury. Product designers and manufacturers are responsible for ensuring that their products are safe and that consumers have access to resources and information on how to use those products correctly; failure to ensure this could result in a products liability case.
5. Wrongful death: When someone is killed due to another’s carelessness, surviving loved ones can file a wrongful death lawsuit to pursue damages.
6. Premises liability: If someone is injured due to a dangerous condition (such as missing handrails, slippery floors, dangerous animals, or more) on someone else’s land, then the property owner may be held liable for damages in a premises liability case.
7. Animal attacks: Dog bites and other animal attacks are often litigated as personal injury cases. In Maryland, under strict liability laws, pet owners are almost always liable for any damages caused by their pet.
8. Intentional torts: When an injury is not accidental or the result of negligence, but is instead the result of an intentional act, then not only can the plaintiff file a personal injury claim in a civil case against the defendant, but the defendant is also likely to be criminally prosecuted.

These are just a few examples of situations that could result in a personal injury suit. You can find more detailed information about each of these scenarios by browsing the resources on Murphy Falcon & Murphy’s practice areas page.

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Determining Liability in Personal Injury Cases

How do you know if you have legal basis for filing a personal injury claim or lawsuit? You must establish that the other party is at fault for the injuries you have sustained. This is one of the most important issues in any personal injury case, since once a party has been recognized as being at fault, they will be held responsible for paying damages to the injured party by either a negotiated settlement or a court order.

Determining fault depends largely on the circumstances of the case, but if you are working with a personal injury attorney to file an injury claim, then you can expect them to investigate and identify all potentially at-fault parties. Often, insurance companies are held responsible for paying damages if the at-fault party carries liability insurance. If an injury claim is filed against the insurance company, then they will generally conduct their own investigation to determine liability.

If all parties involved cannot reach an agreement, the personal injury claim may accelerate to a personal injury lawsuit, bringing the case before a civil court jury to determine who, ultimately, is at fault.