What is a personal injury? What is the legal definition? And, how do personal injury lawsuits work? If you or a loved one have been injured due to someone’s carelessness – intentional or not – you may be entitled to legal reparations under personal injury law. It’s important to have these facts straight. Furthermore, if you’ve recently experienced a personal injury, please contact us immediately.

What is Personal Injury Law?

Essentially, personal injury law allows injured persons to go to civil court and seek legal remedies for any injury-causing accidents or other related incidents. Additionally, the entire purpose of this legal system is to provide “compensation” to the injured person – in the hopes of repairing any careless or unintentional damages done to them.

What Is The Legal Definition of Injury?

From the Legal Dictionary:

“Injury:
n. any harm done to a person by the acts or omissions of another. Injury may include physical hurt as well as damage to reputation or dignity, loss of a legal right or breach of contract. If the party causing the injury was either willful (intentionally causing harm) or negligent then he/she is responsible (liable) for payment of damages for the harm caused. Theoretically, potential or continuing injury may be prevented by an order of the court upon a petition for an injunction.”

However, the actual law is also a bit loose in its application due to old “common law” practices. For example, what is considered to be a personal injury differs from state to state. Furthermore, there are statutory laws to consider in these cases, as well. The most considerable of these being the statute of limitations, which sets a time limit on how long the injured person has to actually file a lawsuit.

Here are a few common examples of personal injuries:

-car accidents
-slip and fall incidents
-assault and battery
-defamation
-medical malpractice, and more

To learn more about the actions you should take after a personal injury, read our article on the subject, here. It’s important that you seek legal advice as soon as possible in the event of an injury. Contact us toll-free at 1-800-567-9888 or locally at 914-788-5000. We offer a free initial consultation, and we charge no fee unless we are successful.