The Relationship Between Lawsuits and Tort Claims

If you have been injured in an accident and you are planning to take legal action, like most people, you probably have a lot of questions and concerns. One of the most common questions people asked that are considering filing a lawsuit is “what is the difference between a lawsuit and tort claims?” The more you have an understanding of the legal process and proceedings, the less stressful and overwhelming the experience will be.

Lawsuits and Tort Claims-The Relationship Between Them

There are a number of steps involved in tort actions, with the first step is bringing a tort claim, when means legal filing a response to one party that has breached the duty of care that is owed to another person, also known as negligence, or the intentional wronging of another person. A tort claim may be considered a strict liability, in which case intent or negligence is not a precondition. Wrongful death claims and personal injury claims are both types of tort actions. Once the tort claim has been filed, the liability party (usually their insurance provider) will determine whether or not a settlement should be paid and if so, how much compensation should be offered. If the settlement isn’t reached, the claimant may then file a lawsuit and your case will proceed to litigation and potential trial. It’s important to understand that tort claims don’t always become a lawsuit; in fact, about 90 percent of personal injury cases get resolved before going to court.

Tort Claims

A tort is committed when someone commits civil wrongdoing that results in injury or death to another person. Tort claims can be related to either/or psychological or physical injuries, property damages, or financial loss. Although each type of tort claim is unique, all tort claims fall into one of three categories:

• Intentional torts-An intentional tort, a civil wrong, happens when an alleged wrongdoer intentionally causes damage to someone else. For instance, common types of intentional tort may include misrepresentation, false imprisonment, battery, slander, or fraud.

• Negligence-This is the most common basis for tort claims, which happens when one person breaches the legal duty of care that they are expected to provide another person. For instance, automobile drivers have a duty of care to other drivers on the road to follow the traffic laws and to avoid dangerous behavior.

• Strict liability claim-Strict liability in tort law means the imposition of liability on someone without them finding of fault. For instance, strict liability applies to product liability or dog bites. You will not have to prove negligence or intent if strict liability applies to your case.

Common Types of Civil Lawsuits

Although there are several types of civil lawsuits, the most common types include class action cases where several people are bringing an action for the same tort, civil lawsuits that are connected to real estate properties, such as property defect nondisclosure by a former property owner, contract action for breaches, such as the failure to perform according to the terms of a contract and family law issues, such as divorce, child custody, and child support.

Do You Need Legal Support?

No matter who you are, there's a good chance that you're going to need support at some point in your life. This could be as simple as needing a shoulder to lean on when things get tough, or it could be something more serious and complex. It's not something that many of us expect to have to deal with but there's a decent chance that there will come a time in many people's lives where they need some kind of legal support. The idea of having to hire a lawyer can be pretty scary for a lot of people but it doesn't have to be. There are a lot of reasons why you might need some kind of legal support. Here are just a few of them.

Counsel

Most people assume that they only need to talk to a lawyer when some kind of disaster has occurred but that's simply not the case. The truth is that a lot of the time the best thing that a lawyer can offer is advice and guidance on how to proceed in a certain situation. There are plenty of reasons to be in this kind of position. From buying a house to starting your own business, there are plenty of things in life that can be pretty difficult to navigate without the right kind of legal counsel.

Defense 

We all make mistakes and poor decisions in our lives. Sometimes these decisions can be small and other times they can be pretty severe. If you find yourself in that kind of situation then you're obviously going to need legal representation. You might also be in the position where you haven't done anything wrong and you're just a victim of circumstances. Either way, you need to be sure that you have a lawyer who is able to defend you to the fullest possible extent and will ensure that you're treated with the right amount of fairness during the entire legal process.

Prosecution

Falling victim to something, whether it's a crime or an accident because of someone else's carelessness, can be an incredibly traumatic situation. Because of that, you want to be sure that you're able to get justice and legal representation is essential in doing that. Whether you need a lawyer to help you prosecute a criminal or if you're better suited by someone like Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers, the right legal support can get you the justice that you need. That way you're going to be in a much better situation to move on from whatever it is that happened.

Of course, this is just a small selection of the reasons why you might find yourself in a position where you need some kind of legal support. The truth is that there are all sorts of reasons from financial problems to family issues. The most important thing to remember is that, as scary as many of these things can be, there is always support out there available to you if you really need it.