Friday, December 9, 2011

Difference between Tort Battery and Personal Injury

By Adriana Noton


When it comes to personal injury, there are a lot of terms and phrases that can be confusing if you are not knowledgeable about the law. Two such terms that can be confusing are tort battery and personal injury. If you have suffered an injury that you believe requires holding someone accountable, it is important to understand these terms so you know what steps to take to hold that person(s) or entity accountable.

Personal Injury

Personal injury law is an area of the law that focuses on acts that cause harm to another or there is a failure to act to prevent harm. The result is negligence for the cause of the injury. If you have suffered an injury as the result of the negligence of another, you have the legal right to seek compensation for your injuries, whether it is physical injuries, emotional/psychological injuries, or both.

Personal injury is actually a civil wrongdoing. The negligent party either created the situation that resulted in the injury or failed to make a situation safe to prevent an injury from occurring. There are various areas of personal injury law which include: medical malpractice, defective products, slip and fall, motor vehicle accidents, workplace injuries, and specific types of injuries such as a brain injury. For instance, personal injury regarding a slip and fall can be a person slipping on a wet floor in a mall because there were no signs warning of the wet floor. Basically, personal injury involves an injury that was not intentionally directed at an individual, but there were external factors that caused the injury which was caused by another's actions or inactions.

Tort Battery

Tort Battery involves one person purposely taking an action or actions to harm another person. It is intended wrongdoing for the purpose of causing another person physical, psychological, or emotional harm. Examples include assault, sexual assault, shooting a person, running over someone purposely with a car, etc. Tort battery involves criminal acts which fall under criminal law in which a person faces charges for their alleged criminal offense. Personal injury and tort battery can sometimes entwined. For instance, a person who is severely beaten can sue someone for compensation for their injuries when the person is found guilty. Even if someone is found not guilty, they can still be sued in civil court.

Lawyers Role

Personal injury lawyers represent personal injury victims. For instance, car accident personal injury lawyers specialize in representing victims of car accidents where there is a person that is believed to be negligent in causing the accident. Tort battery cases involve criminal defense lawyers who represent clients charged with a crime.

When involve in a personal injury lawsuit, it is important that the right lawyer represents you. A personal injury lawyer is the right choice. These lawyers specialize in personal injury law with some specializing further in one particular area such as car accident lawyers. Personal Injury lawyer seek the compensation their clients deserve for the injuries sustained which is a form of accountability.




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