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Tuesday, October 25, 2011

What is a Personal Injury Lawsuit?

Personal injury is a legal term for an injury to the body, mind or emotions, as opposed to an injury to property. The term is most commonly used to refer to a type of tort lawsuit alleging that the plaintiff's injury has been caused by the negligence of another, but also arises in defamation torts.


The most common types of personal injury claims are road traffic accidents, accidents at work, tripping accidents, accidents in the home, defective products (product liability) and holiday accidents. The term personal injury also incorporates medical and dental accidents (which lead to numerous medical negligence claims every year) and conditions that are often classified as industrial disease cases, including asbestosis and peritoneal mesothelioma, chest diseases (e.g., emphysema, pneumoconiosis, silicosis, chronic bronchitis, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and chronic obstructive airways disease), vibration white finger, occupational deafness, occupational stress, contact dermititis, and repetitive strain injury cases.

If the negligence of another party can be proved, the injured party may be entitled to monetary compensation from that party.

1 comment:

Stephen Schaunt said...

Even though personal injury lawyers are trained and licensed to practice virtually any field of law, they generally only handle cases that fall under tort law. However, the scope of their field is not limited to work accidents, road mishaps, faulty products, and medical mistakes. I hope this helps.