Personal injuries are injuries that happen to you as a person. Also known as tort law, personal injuries are eligible for civil lawsuits where you can file a case against someone for damages or remedy caused by that person or company's actions. This allows that person to be compensated for harm done, whether it was intentional or negligent.
Salazar & Velazquez are personal injury attorneys based in Houston, Texas. Our team has years of experience and won hundreds of cases, helping our clients receive millions of dollars in remedies in order to help them in their lives. Our team is passionate about each and every one of our clients, and we fight hard to ensure you receive just compensation. Call for a free consultation today!
TYPES OF PERSONAL INJURIES
There are three types of personal injuries from a legal standpoint:
Negligence
Negligence is the most common type of personal injury that lawyers see. These are injuries caused to others based on someone's careless behavior. The basis for these derives from the fact that if the same situation would occur, someone else would not necessarily have made that mistake.
Strict Liability
Strict liability is an injury that is caused to a person based on the action or product regardless of intent. The best example of a strict liability is a faulty product. The manufacturer is responsible if injury occurs even though there was never an intention of harm.
Intentional Wrongs
Intentional wrongs to someone else is bodily injury caused with intention, such as assault, battery, and intentional emotional distress.
MOST COMMON PERSONAL INJURY CASES
Accidents
Accidents range from car and motorcycle accidents to slips and falls, as well as medical malpractice suits. For the most part, accidents fall under the negligent category of personal injuries.
Intentional Acts
Intentional acts for the most part involve some sort of physical altercation, such as assault and battery, where the person is intentionally trying to harm someone.
Defective Products
While most manufacturers invent and produce products meant to help us in life, sometimes, these products can actually cause us bodily harm. Items such as faulty vehicle parts, consumer products, medical devices, or pharmaceuticals fall under the product liability laws.
Defamation
Defamation, or the act of harming someone's reputation with words rather than with weapons falls under personal injury law.
STEPS IN A PERSONAL INJURY CASE
If you've been injured by someone or something, you may be wondering about what the personal injury process looks like. Here are the steps:
- Harm is Done. Harm is done to someone by someone else.
- Personal injury lawyer is retained. When harm is done to you, the next step is contacting a top-rated personal injury lawyer with the details of your claim. They will perform their own investigations to determine if you have a case.
- Legal action is taken. Once your injury lawyer has determined you have a case, legal steps will be taken against that other person. Paperwork will be filed, and the settlement process will begin.
- Settlement. If the legal action is against an insurance company such as the case in a car accident, usually the matter is determined outside of court in a settlement agreement. However, if no settlement can be reached, the matter may move to litigation.
- Litigation. Here, a judge will determine if the person who did the harm is liable, and if so, how much the compensation will be. However, talks can continue, and a settlement may still be reached outside of the courtroom.
SOME CONSIDERATIONS TO KEEP IN MIND
Statute of Limitations
Every state has a statute of limitations. This is mainly to protect the defendant so that they cannot be sued for something that happened years ago. This makes litigation and the burden of proof of injury extremely difficult, too. In the state of Texas, the statute of limitations for personal injuries is two years. However, it is five years for sex crimes and one year of libel or slander.
Definition of Personal Injury
It's important to keep in mind that the definition of personal injury is more than just bodily harm. Personal injury also encompasses pain and suffering, as well as emotional distress. While the latter two are a bit more difficult to receive compensation for, it is very possible. Top-rated personal injury lawyers will usually work with mental health professionals in order to prove that the person's quality of life has been impacted due to the other person's actions.
Duty of Care
Duty of care is where someone needs to do something safely in order to assure that no one gets hurt. This applies to drivers to drive safely, medical professionals to provide care, manufacturers to produce non-harmful products, and even grocery stores to ensure their floors are not wet and cause slip and fall injuries.
What Isn't Personal Injury
Someone who comes upon a car accident where a death occurred cannot claim personal injury. However, if someone was involved in that car accident, like a passenger, that person can claim emotional distress. Also, some injuries that are the fault or partially the fault of the person who got hurt may not be eligible for personal compensation. Some accidents are determined to be the fault of both parties, whereby you would not be entitled to collect personal injury compensation if you were more than 50% at fault.
FAST FACTS ABOUT PERSONAL INJURY CASES
- 95% of all injury claims are settled out of court
- Every personal injury case is different with unique circumstances that plays into compensation
- Experts are often needed to attest to your injuries
- Insurance companies are looking to pay you the least amount of compensation
- Personal injury cases can take time
- You can get compensation for lost wages and past and future medical costs
- You can receive compensation for loss of companionship and funeral expenses if someone died