Personal
Injury, Missouri
Personal injury lawsuits are filed
by parties (or their representatives) injured
due to the negligence of others. The injury
may be either physical or emotional, and
it can arise from a variety of sources or
types of conduct. Some of the most common
types of personal injuries that give rise
to legal liability on the part of the wrongdoer
include slip and fall, automobile accidents,
assaults and battery, medical malpractice,
and defective products. The general goal
of personal injury actions is to determine
who was responsible and to compel them to
compensate the injured party for the losses
sustained. If you or someone you know has
been injured by the careless actions of
another, it is essential that you seek legal
counsel from an experienced personal injury
attorney at once so that you can preserve
your rights.
Personal
Injury Damages
Personal injury lawyers can
help ensure that their clients receive the
maximum amount of damages recoverable by
law. Some of the items for which injured
parties are legally entitled to compensation
include past and future lost wages, past
and future medical expenses, damages for
both physical and emotional pain and suffering,
and damages for disfigurement. Sometimes,
a close family member of the injured person,
such as his or her spouse, may also be entitled
to damages. This award is often referred
to as loss of consortium damages, which
is intended to compensate the loved one
for the loss of the injured party's services
and companionship.
Other kinds of damages that may be awarded,
depending on the laws of the state where
the lawsuit is brought and the facts of
the particular case, include hedonic damages,
which are awarded to compensate the plaintiff
for the loss of enjoyment of activities
that he or she once valued but can no longer
participate in as a result of the injuries
suffered. An example would be the inability
of a person injured in a car accident to
continue playing softball on a recreation
league that was a big part of his or her
life. In addition, punitive damages are
awarded when the defendant's conduct was
particularly egregious and the court or
jury determines that the defendant should
be punished by paying an amount above and
beyond the plaintiff's actual damages. Such
awards may also serve to deter others from
engaging in similar wrongful conduct.
"Legal Causation" of Personal
Injuries
Not
every injured plaintiff is entitled to recover
damages for the injury he or she sustains.
Besides the injury, the plaintiff must also
establish, through credible and relevant
evidence, that the defendant is legally
responsible for his or her injuries. The
plaintiff must present proof of causation
both in terms of actual causation and proximate
(legal) causation. Actual causation is determined
by literal cause and effect. Whether legal
causation is established depends on the
facts and circumstances of the particular
matter in question.
In some personal injury actions, legal causation
may be established if the plaintiff can
show that the defendant engaged in intentional
conduct. This means that the wrongdoer intentionally
or purposefully harmed the plaintiff or
knew that the conduct in which he or she
engaged gave rise to a substantial likelihood
that harm would result.
Other personal injury actions are based
on a looser concept of fault called negligence.
Under the negligence theory, a defendant
is held liable for the results of action,
or inaction, when an ordinary person in
the same position should have foreseen that
the conduct would create an unreasonable
risk of harm to others. Still other types
of personal injury actions are based on
strict liability, which is a no-fault system
under which liability may be established
regardless of the fault of the various parties,
including the plaintiff. Strict liability
may be applied in products liability cases,
such as when a manufacturer or seller of
a defective product puts that product into
the consumer hands and users are injured.
The defendant can be held liable for actions
taken, or actions not taken. A driver who
fails to stop at a red light and hits another
vehicle and injures the other driver or
passengers is liable based on her negligent
acts. A property owner who fails to clear
the ice and snow from the front steps of
a business open to the public may be liable
for his inaction if a patron falls and breaks
her leg when attempting to enter the premises.
Personal
Injury Defenses
In
some situations, the defendant's conduct,
while questionable, may not rise to a level
of culpability that entitles the plaintiff
to recover damages. If, for instance, a
plaintiff knowingly and willfully chooses
to encounter a known hazard, then the law
provides that he or she has assumed the
risk of injury and therefore the defendant
may not be liable. The assumption of the
risk theory may apply, for example, in a
case in which the plaintiff engaged in a
friendly game of tackle football and another
player broke his arm; in such a case, the
plaintiff may be unable to recover for his
injuries because he knew of the risks inherent
in the game and willingly chose to encounter
them.
The following are possible defenses to personal
injury claims.
- Statutes
of limitations are laws setting forth
the time periods when the lawsuit must
be initiated;
- Sovereign
immunity provides that certain government
officials are immune from civil liability
for their conduct, since if they were
constantly subject to litigation for all
of their acts, then they would be unable
to perform their duties;
- Intentional
misuse of a product in a products liability
case
- Contributory
or comparative negligence where the plaintiff's
own conduct caused or contributed to his
or her injuries.
A
personal injury lawyer can explain these
and other defenses and determine whether
they apply to a particular case.
Conclusion
Personal
injury actions often require a lawyer's
careful examination of the surrounding facts
and circumstances to determine whether the
defendant is legally responsible for the
plaintiff's injuries. An experienced and
knowledgeable personal injury attorney can
look at the facts of your case and determine
whether you have a legally valid claim,
how soon you must act to preserve your rights,
what your damages may be, and whether you
may be entitled to some type of financial
benefits before your lawsuit is even resolved.
And in most cases, you owe no legal fees
unless and until the defendant pays the
damages award.
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