When a person is injured in an accident due to someone else’s negligence, it is natural for them to consider suing the at-fault party for damages. Before you begin a personal injury claim, you may want to learn a bit about their history and how they work.
How did personal injury laws come about?
Personal injury lawsuits are based on the concept that each individual has a certain duty of care. If you are driving in a car, you have an obligation to follow the rules of the road. If you own an office building, it must be safe for people to come into and do business. You must act in a reasonable manner which is a manner that a rational person would act in if they were in the same situation. The concept of penalties for breaking laws and a general social order dates back to Hammurabi’s Code which came about in ancient Babylonia. It was a set of 282 rules to which citizens were expected to adhere. The phrase, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”. Was inspired by this code. It indicates that a person must pay for what they have done to or taken from others with something of equal value. The code goes into great detail as to what penalties will exist for crimes and general trust violations.
Personal injury laws and lawsuits are relatively new. One of the first known personal injury suits was that of Donoghue V. Stevenson in which a British woman sued a beverage company when she found a snail in her ginger beer. She became sick when she drank it. The manufacturer was found guilty of negligence.
Decisions in legal cases are sometimes the catalyst for new laws. They also often set precedents for other legal decisions. Donoghue V. Stevenson set a precedent for negligence cases going forward.
Personal Injury Laws Today
Many personal injury laws today are based on the decisions of judges. When one person sues another for personal damages, the person being sued has not necessarily broken a law but rather violated their basic duty of care.
If a company puts out a faulty product and someone gets hurt because of it, they have done nothing illegal, but the injured party may sue them for damages.
There are laws to which a plaintiff must adhere. In the state of New York, the law states that you have three years in which to file a lawsuit. The law will also dictate in which court you will file your suit.
Sometimes a person may be sued for a personal injury that was the result of an illegal act. If a person was killed by a drunk driver, the driver may be arrested and taken to jail. The family of the victim may sue that person for wrongful death in a separate civil trial.
What to do if You Have Been Injured
If you have been injured in an accident, you should save all of your medical bills and all of the receipts for any medications that you have had to take. You should also have your employer document any time that you have missed from work and you should document any other expenses you have had that are related to the accident.
Be sure to give the office of personal injury lawyer Jesse Minc a call. He is a seasoned attorney who can get you the money you deserve.
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