Negligence
Focused on your injuries when you can't be
A lot of people ask: “What’s a tort?” Well for one, its a weird word that the legal world uses to describe a wrong. The next question I get: “Well then what’s a wrong?” You can think of a wrong as simply a physical or mental injury. So if you’re injured, either physically or mentally, by someone else’s actions or even sometimes inactions, you could be entitled to have them pay for your injuries.
Surprisingly many people struggle with this idea. People think that if something happens that’s an accident then how could someone be entitled to money for an accident? According to the Rand Institute for Civil Justice, 1 in 6 Americans sustains an injury serous enough to cause some economic loss, but only around 10% file any type of claim.
Well if you think about how accidents happen a majority of accidents are caused by something other than pure chance. Much of the time accidents are caused by unreasonable actions. You can think of this type of action as the opposite of diligence. This idea is known as negligence. The idea of negligence is found throughout the law. While primarily thought of as a civil violation of the law, theories of negligence are strewn throughout both civil and criminal statutes.
Negligence cases take many different forms. Some of the most common forms include the following: Motor Vehicle Accidents causing injury; Medical Malpractice cases; Premises liability cases and even something like a dog bite case. In any situation where an injury has been caused through the unreasonable actions of another, there is a case to be made for negligence.
In Massachusetts there is a statute of limitations on any negligence action of three years, so be sure to seek legal advice well before this time period approaches.
There are commercials on television all the time for attorneys saying “if you’ve been injured call us” and that’s because negligence cases can provide for large damages depending on the circumstances. While these commercials have led many people to look with disgust on lawyers who seemingly feed off the injuries of others, the reality of impact of negligence lawsuits in the U.S. Is much different
Unbeknownst to many, damages in court cannot be frivolously awarded to a plaintiff in Massachusetts without a specific showing of damages. The goal of these lawsuits is to fairly compensate those who have been injured and to hold those who acted unreasonably responsible for their negligent actions. Arguments that raise issues of increased costs for business or health care fail to consider the reality of the injuries suffered by the victims of negligent action and their right to be compensated in accordance with those injuries.