Personal Injury Concepts You Need To Know
Posted on: 28 December 2018
The notion of a personal injury in American law is based on two core ideas. The first is that each of us has what's called a duty of care, a responsibility to ensure that we don't cause others to come to hard because of negligence, recklessness or malice. The second is that when people are harmed under such circumstances that they're owed some sort of compensation.
As we expand beyond those bedrock principles, we find many other personal injury law concepts that can be difficult for the layperson to understand. Before you move ahead with a personal injury claim, you may want to learn more about the following three ideas.
Negligence, Recklessness and Malice
These are the three ways that your actions or inaction might cause another person to come to harm. Negligence supposes that you didn't intend for anything to happen at all, such as failing to have bald tires on a car replaced leading up to an auto accident. Recklessness is when you deliberately did something but didn't want anyone to be hurt, such as running down a sidewalk and colliding with a stranger. Malice is when you intended for someone to get hurt, such as assaulting a person who had insulted you. Each of these classes of acts is potentially compensable under personal injury law.
Discovery
In American law, the discovery process is when both sides in a case make each other aware of the evidence and testimony they have access to. For example, counsel for a person who suffered a slip and fall accident at a grocery store should be able to use the discovery process to obtain things like maintenance logs, videotapes and schedules. These can be utilized to find out who was present at the time and who failed to address the cause of the incident.
Claims Adjuster
For most cases, legal action will be handled between the plaintiff's attorney and the defendant's insurance company. The claims adjuster is the person appointed by the insurance company to evaluate the validity of the case. If they feel that a provable personal injury has occurred, they will calculate an amount of monetary compensation that they feel best serves the insurance company's interest. This will be presented to your lawyer as an offer, and your personal injury attorney then has an obligation to share it with you. You can then accept the offer, negotiate, drop the case or sue.
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