Does My Personal Injury Case Need to be a Physical Injury?

Personal injuries can be a serious injury, emotional or physical suffering or financial hardship. To make a personal injury case, the injury must have come as a result of someone’s misconduct, negligence or intentional actions.

<h2> The basics of personal injury </h2>

Personal injury rules apply in a variety of situations.

• Negligence – You have a personal injury case when someone acts in a negligent manner and that carelessness causes another person to get injured. Some examples include car accidents, slip and fall cases and medical malpractice.
• Intentional Acts – Personal injury cases also encompass situations like assault and, where the person is injured by someone’s intentional conduct.
• Defective products – Liability can arise from a defective product. These cases don’t require negligence or intentional wrongdoing.
• Defamation – Personal injury laws also cover defamation, when a person’s defamatory statements harm another person’s reputation.

<h2> How does a personal injury case work? </h2>

Personal injury cases can be complicated, especially when trying to determine negligence and liability. But for the most part they can be broken down into three basic steps:

1. The defendant does something to injury the plaintiff – In this step the injury is caused by the defendant’s carelessness, negligence or intentional actions.
2. Plaintiff Determines that Defendant Breached a Legal Duty – In this step the legal duty depends on the situation that caused the injury. For example, a business might not have repaired a dangerous pothole in their parking lot, a doctor might not have treated the plaintiff with the proper care or a dog owner may not have had their dog on a leash.
3. Settlement talks occur – In this step the defendant gets the opportunity to settle outside of court. If the defendant agrees that they are at fault they may pay a monetary compensation.

<h2> Hiring a personal injury lawyer in Arizona </h2>

If you would like to speak to an attorney about an injury you suffered due to someone’s negligence, contact us here.