Personal Injury: Negligence, Intentional Harm, or Absolute Liability?

The term physical injury refers to both mental and physical injury to a person resulting from someone's neglect or injurious act. Another name for physical injury is bodily injury. Usually, personal injury occurs because of certain accidents. Common causes of personal injury include: dangerous or malfunctioning product injuries, automobile accidents, workers compensation, wrongful death, aviation disasters, exposure to toxins, home accidents, dog bites, and professional malpractice.

The three basic groups of categories of personal injury are: negligence, intentional harm, and absolute liability.

In negligence, there is a failure to exercise reasonable care to prevent a discerned harm or injury to a person, place, or thing. Even if the harm is without intention, the person is still liable. Intentional harm means that there is intent or malicious purpose of causing harm or injury. If for example, two people are arguing and one suddenly decides to punch the other, the one who punched is liable for personal injury. Lastly, in absolute liability, regardless of intent or negligence, a person or entity is still responsible for the injury that happens to a person. A good example of this is a defective product. A person can only prove that personal injury is done if the defective product already caused the injury on him. The burden of proof lies on the person, to show that the manufacturer of the product was intentionally negligent or careless.

Personal injury claims can entitle one to damages and they include: lost wages, including overtime, medical bills, emotional trauma, permanent scars, physical disability, pain and suffering, loss of love and affection, embarrassment, mental disability, mental disability, damage of property, mental anguish, and all pocket expenses that include transport charges, house cleaning, grass cutting, and many other.

In a personal injury claim, even if the fault was partially the victim's, there is still an existing claim based on the idea of comparative negligence or contributory negligence. A clear example of this is when a person slips on a floor that has a "Caution - Wet Floor" sign. The concept of contributory negligence prevents the person from soliciting compensation for his injuries. If your negligence caused you injury, then you have contributed to the accident and are guilty of contributory negligence. If one freely engages in dangerous activities such as riding a roller coaster, then that person is also guilty of contributory negligence if an injury results from that ride.

Often, personal injuries do not go to court and are settled out of court between lawyers or by insurance companies. Every state has certain limits that dictate until when a person can file personal injury claims. If the statutory deadline is missed, the case would not be welcomed in court any more.

The length of time it takes to settle a personal injury claim would depend on the simplicity or complexity of a case. The more complex, the longer it takes for the case to be settled. Most often, cases could last at least three to eighteen months. In the meantime, you should be careful to avoid any more claims, especially another personal injury claim.