3 Types of Tort in Personal Injury Cases

The California Civil Law allows victims who sustained injuries from an accident to file an accident injury claim or lawsuit against the liable party to recover what they lost.

The liabilities of the defendant in personal injury cases are determined through tort law.

Tort refers to the civil actions of a person that can be considered unsafe or harmful; it can also refer to a person’s failure to act in certain situation that could also lead to harm to other people.

Unlike criminal cases, though, the punishment for violations of tort laws are usually monetary and not imprisonment.

There are three general types of tort, those are:

Intentional Tort
These refer to wrongful conduct that are performed intentionally and with the knowledge of the consequences of the action.

Some examples of intentional tort are assault and battery.

To prove intentional tort, you have to prove the following elements:

• The accused willfully performed wrongful acts with knowledge of its consequences.

• The intentional wrongful act is the cause of the victim’s injuries.

• The injuries resulted in damages to the victim.

Negligence Tort
These refer to wrongful acts that are a result of carelessness or simply defined as the failure to act in a way that a reasonable person should have acted in a similar situation.

This tort is the basis of most personal injury claims filed in the state.
To prove negligence, you have to prove the following elements:

• The accused owes a duty of care to the victim.
• The accused broke that duty.
• The victim was injured due to the breach of owed duty of care.
• The victim sustained damages.

Strict Liability
This is mostly used in product liability and premises liability cases where negligence can be difficult to prove.

It also recognizes that the accused in these cases owe a higher level of care to the victims of these accidents as they provide benefit to the accused.

To prove strict liability, you have to prove the following elements:
• The existence of the safety defect (for product liability) or the dangerous condition (for product liability).

• The safety defect or dangerous condition is the cause of the victim’s injuries.

• The victim sustained damages.
In all three cases, the aim of personal injury law is to give you back what you lost due to the accident.

This includes both monetary and non-monetary losses.
Additional compensation also can be given in intentional tort cases to penalize the accused and to discourage similar actions in the future.

To know more about personal injury and tort law, consult with a Los Angeles Accident Injury Attorney for more information.