Accident Attorneys

Accident lawsuits are filed by accident attorneys under the law of tort. A tort is a act of a failure of an act that harms an individual or individuals and has a legal solution. The personal injury is a harm that affects the body or mind of an individual as opposed to property. Personal injury falls under the law of tort and the underlying spirit of this law is that the party or parties responsible for causing harm to another party should take responsibility and pay for the consequences of the harm. A tort differs from a crime in that a crime is an act against the society and the society through the district attorney will file a case against the alleged criminal. On the other hand, in a tort, an individual is harmed and through their accident attorney, they seek compensation for the harm from the person who caused it. Some acts are both crimes and torts and individuals can seek compensation from a person who has been sued under a crime for the same act.

There are three different types of torts through which an accident attorney may seek damages on behalf of their client.

Intentional Tort

An intentional tort is a harm that is caused intentionally by the causer. This differs from unintentional harm that is caused through negligence or carelessness. Cases of intentional tort include battering, intentional damage of property, assault, threats, wrongful imprisonments, defamation, damages related to trespass, invasion of one’s privacy or any other intentional injury. In many cases, the intentional torts also fall under crimes since they will most likely infringe on a person’s rights as protected by society. In a case of intentional tort, the plaintiff accident attorney must prove that the defendant acted deliberately and was aware that their act would be a likely cause of injury to the plaintiff. If an accident attorney is able to prove this in a court and win a case, the plaintiff will be awarded with punitive damages. Punitive damages are damages won by accident attorneys over and above the regular monetary and non monetary damages. The punitive damages are intended to punish the defendant for their willful act of harm.

Negligent Torts

Negligent tort is an act that is committed out of negligence and leads to harm on another party. A defendant must have a duty of care for a particular event or property and if they do not act reasonably careful as expected by law and their act of carelessness or negligence leads to an injury, then they are liable to pay damages to the harmed party. The damages sort by the accident attorney are intended at reinstating the injured victim to the state they were before the injury. The damages include any costs incurred from medical bills, repairs or restorations and loss of wages or income due to the harmful act or negligence. To win a case of negligent tort, accident attorneys must prove that the defendant had a duty of care, they breached this duty, that this breach of duty caused an injury to the plaintiff and that the plaintiff incurred costs and consequences from the injury.

Tort Based on Strict Liability

The law prescribes that in some particular cases, a defendant is liable to compensate the plaintiff if their act lead to an injury whether or not they applied their duty of care. In such cases, the accident attorney needs not prove the intents or duty of the defendant. If they prove that an act under strict liability was done, they win damages for their client. Strict liability applies in cases of injury by a wild animal, injury due to a potentially hazardous activities such a testing explosives, demolishing buildings and defective products by a manufacturer.