Major Injury Law Categories

The categories overlap to large degree.  For instance, an accident at work would fall into both the workers’ comp and accident categories.  Abuse and malpractice could overlap, as could personal injury and product liability.

An injury under the law falls broadly into the category of a tort.   The word tort is from Latin and related to the words torture and injury.  Torts are often described as Duty-Breach-Causation-Damages.  First, did the defendant have a duty to the plaintiff?  Second, did the defendant breach that duty?  Third, was the breach the cause of the damages?  Finally, were there damages resulting from the breach?

This same analysis is similar in all categories, from accidents and other personal injury to malpractice to product liability and any other injuries or torts.

Broadly, personal injury defines all categories.  In this case, personal injury is only used for injuries not falling into another category.  For instance, dog bite cases, slips and falls, and getting hit by a car.

For more specifics, read the pages linked below.

• Accidents

  “Accidents” is a broad category representing auto accidents, truck accidents, bike accidents, motorcycle accidents and more.  In fact, it doesn’t need to be moving vehicle accidents.  Accidents happen all over society.  Elevator accidents happen.  So do construction accidents.  Broadly, the term is used to represent when another person caused harm. If you are searching for […]

• Malpractice

  The average person, when thinking about the term malpractice, thinks about medical malpractice. However, numerous types of malpractice exist, including legal malpractice, dentist malpractice, financial advisor malpractice, or accounting malpractice. Virtually any professional position providing services can be responsible for malpractice. Professional owe a duty to their client or patient.  Often, part of this duty […]

• Personal Injury

  Personal injury is broadly defined as any possible injury to an individual.  Personal injury law actually encompasses all types of injury, including accidents, malpractice, product liability and any other injuries discussed on ILD.  We use the term “personal injury” more narrowly – discussing those injuries which do not fit underneath those other, more specific, categories. […]