What does a Personal Injury Lawyer Do
Personal Injury Lawyer: In simple terms, personal injury lawyers are lawyers that help people who have been physically or psychologically injured as the result of the negligence or intentional act of another party.
Personal injury lawyers are civil lawyers. They primarily handle negligence and intentional tort cases. Civil lawyers are typically retained to recover money from one person on behalf of another. When a person brings a civil action against another, a civil lawyer is usually retained to bring the lawsuit. The injured party will hire a personal injury lawyer when a dispute involves reimbursement or payment of medical expenses from an injury. Once retained, a personal injury lawyer will attempt to negotiate a settlement of the case.
The personal injury lawyer will subsequently file a lawsuit if negotiation fails. A lawsuit is a civil legal action where one party sues another for money or property. The person suing is typically called the plaintiff. The defendant is the person sued.
WHAT TYPES OF CASES DO PERSONAL INJURY LAWYERS HANDLE?
Personal injury lawyers handle several types of negligence cases that involve car accidents, truck accidents, aviation accidents, medical malpractice, legal malpractice, child daycare negligence, wrongful death cases, and other types of negligence cases. Negligence occurs when someone fails to use reasonable care to avoid causing injury or loss to another person. In other words, negligence occurs when one person carelessly injures another person.
For example, in a Florida motor vehicle accident or trucking accident, negligence occurs when one person carelessly operates a motor vehicle and causes damage or injury to another. In a Florida premises liability case, negligence occurs when a premises owner carelessly maintains his or her premises, such that the premises cause injury to another (i.e., a slip and fall or trip and fall case).
In medical malpractice or medical negligence cases, negligence occurs when a medical professional fails to provide the standard of medical care that a reasonably prudent medical professional would have provided under similar circumstances. Finally, a products liability case arises when a manufacturer places a defective product into the stream of commerce that causes harm to consumers. In these situations, a personal injury lawyer is retained to negotiate the potential case and file a lawsuit against the defendant.
Alternatively, an intentional tort occurs where a person intentionally causes injury to another. For example, a car accident is simply that — an accident. In a car accident case, there is no intent to harm you, only negligence on the part of the negligent driver. However, an intentional tort occurs when a person intentionally rams another vehicle, or assaults or batters another person. In some cases, businesses are liable where an employee intentionally touches, strikes, or batters a customer.
