Missouri Personal Injury Attorney

Personal Injury Cases

A wide variety of situations can fall under the category of personal injury. Companies can be sued by an attorney if the accident occurred at a facility or by the business’s employee, but sometimes cases are filed against a single person. Common personal injury cases include:

• Dog bites: According to Dogbites.org, emergency room visits account for 1,000 dog bites each day. While not all dog bites are serious, it should be noted that every year from 2009 to 2015, over 30 fatal attacks in the United States occurred, with 2014 reporting 42 deaths by dog bite. Other bites can result in permanent nerve damage, scarring and disfigurement.
• Distracted driving: Distraction.gov reports that the dangers of distracted driving have reached epidemic levels. Despite multiple laws banning texting and campaigns educating the public about the seriousness of the issue, over 3,000 people lost their lives in distracted driving-related incidents in 2014.
• Medical malpractice: Forbes.com reports that medical malpractice lawsuits cost health care professionals more than $3 billion in 2012 alone. Medical malpractice can involve missed diagnoses, errors made in administering pharmaceutical drugs, mistakes committed during surgical procedures, failure of hospital staff to properly monitor patients’ health conditions and infections caused by poor sanitation methods on the part of hospital professionals.
• Assault: Property owners can be held liable for failing to protect the safety of their guests. This means they should have adequate security methods, especially if they serve alcohol, or they are in a high-crime area; and sufficient lighting. Victims of assault can struggle with permanent physical injuries, emotional trauma and psychological issues.

There are many additional types of cases that fall under the umbrella of personal injury. For example, a child suffered brain damage after choking on a defective toy, due to a lack of oxygen; a knee replacement caused further damage because of a design flaw; or a trucking company encouraged its drivers to disregard federal guidelines and drive when they should have been resting. Such actions can result in long-lasting pain to victims and their families.

Tort Law in Personal Injuries

The type of law that defines the boundaries in personal injury cases is a type of tort law. According to the Cornell University Law School’s Legal Information Institute, there are several aims of this type of law, most focused on the goals of determining which parties are responsible for any harm or injury caused. Additionally, tort law seeks to prevent the same actions from being committed by other parties, and to give the injured victim a path to financial justice.

The official definition of a tort is “an act or omission that gives rise to injury or harm to another and amounts to a civil wrong for which courts impose liability.” Basically, the law acknowledges that people or companies should be responsible for their actions and that those harmed by the actions of another party have the legal right to pursue a claim for appropriate compensation.