What is P.I?

Personal Injury Lawyer

P.I stands for Personal injury it is the branch of law dealing with torts concerning the bodily, emotional or mental injuries sustained in an incident. Its a common field that receives thousands of cases a year but for clients it can be difficult to follow along the proceedings of the case and it may be beneficial to have the assistance of a personal injury lawyer Arlington, TX trusts. Here are a couple of common terms in P.I cases.

Statute of Limitations

The Statute of limitations is the legally allowed state of time in which you can file suit for damages. It varies from state  to state it can range from years to months for civil cases. But once it expires you cannot file suit any longer.

Strict Liability

Strict liability imposes liability for causing damage regardless of intent or fault. Strict liability shifts the burden to the defendant as they have to prove that they are not responsible. This is commonly applied to cases where consumers sustain injury while using a defective product.

Damages

Damages are what a plaintiff is seeking to recover in a lawsuit. Damages in legal terms are equivalent to money, they are classified in two ways. The first are economic damages. Those are easily assessed and include things such as pay lost from time taken off work, medical fees, the cost of car damages or repairs.  In a personal injury suit, damages equal money. Damages are separated into two categories, economic damages and non-economic damages. Non-economic damages are are harder to assess and are intangible. Those are things including physical or emotional pain, physical or emotional suffering, duress, humiliation. The list goes on and on if it causes substantial harm or impediment to your ability to live out your daily life you can claim damages.

Comparative Fault/Contributory Negligence

Comparative fault and Contributory negligence is legal theory that seeks to divide the fault and subsequently the damages between parties. The fault can lie equally, partially or fully on one or both parties. If you were to drive of the side of the road while texting. You could be found responsible for poor driving but city could also be found responsible for not securing the side of the road with a guard rail. As a result if the case decided that the damages were worth 50,000 but you where both found 50% responsible you would only win 25,000

No-Fault

Most states require every driver of an automobile to be covered by personal injury protection or PIP. States with this laws require a certain amount of injury to occur before allowing a suit to be filed in the event of a car crash. Otherwise the injured party can only collect from their insurance agency. 

 


 

Thank you to our friends and contributors at Brandy Austin Law Firm, PLLC for their insight into personal injury claims.