A personal injury lawyer, Richmond VA represents victims of personal injuries. Personal injury describes mental and physical injuries that stem from someone else’s intentional actions, negligence or strict liability. Intentional action in this context means that the other party had the sole purpose of hurting you. Intentional action usually involves cases of false imprisonment, assault and battery.
Negligence means that the other person threw caution to the wind and as such did not act with rational care. For instance, another driver rear-ends you when you are at a complete stop at a red light. If the crash results in physical injuries, the other party could be liable for negligence. Any ensuing damage to your car falls under property damage and not personal injury. Personal injury does not include property destruction or damage. A competent personal injury lawyer will most definitely advise you as such.
In the state of Virginia, should you sustain personal injuries in an auto accident or any other mishap for that matter because of someone else’s negligence, you are entitled to compensation for lost wages, medical bills, emotional pain and distress. However, a personal injury lawyer will have to prove that the other party was actually negligent beyond any reasonable doubt. Personal injuries range from insignificant or minor to fatal injuries leading to the person’s death. Probable causes of personal injuries in Richmond VA include sexual abuse, medical malpractice, dog bites, railroad accidents, trucking accidents and boating accidents. Others include nursing home abuse, slip-and-fall accidents, automobile accidents and motorcycle accidents.
Personal injury lawyer Richmond VA use Tort- a category of law – to argue out clients’ cases. Torts fall under civil law and not criminal law. This branch of law deals expressly with various ways of holding someone else responsible for your physical or mental injuries. According to the Supreme Court of Virginia, the vast majority of personal injury cases revolve around the negligence of another party.
Your personal injury lawyer has the unenviable task of proving that the other party caused your injury due to negligence on his part. In order to be able to prove that this was the case, the personal injury attorney has to prove that there was direct cause, duty of responsibility or care, breach of duty and harm. Under duty of care, the attorney has to show that the other party was negligent and as such, was obligated to act sensibly to avoid causing injuries to the other party. Breach of duty expressly states that the negligent party exposed the other party to substantial injury risk knowingly or unknowingly. Direct cause refers to the inaction or deliberate acts of the negligent party that resulted in the injury. Lastly, harm refers to the consequences of the accident on the party suing for negligence.
