Legal
Terms & Definitions
Legal Terms & Definitions
Class
Action Lawsuit- is a large-scale civil proceeding usually
brought about in product liability cases on the behalf of multiple
clients who have a shared interest in the case.
Comparative negligence - is when
the plaintiff is found to be partly at fault for his or her own
injuries and is usually measured by a percentage by the jury.
When a plaintiff is found to be comparatively negligent, the amount
of the award is reduced by the percentage of the plaintiff's negligence.
Compensatory damages
- are monetary awards to the plaintiff for damages that have actually
occurred, such as loss of wages or medical bills.
Duty - is a legal obligation to
take action or not take action as specified by common law, statute,
contract or court order. Under tort law, one has the duty of reasonable
care to avoid injuring others.
Forseeability - in tort law is the
reasonable anticipation that an injury may occur through the action
or inaction of another party.
Intentional Torts - are
personal injuries or property damage that was caused out of malice,
willfulness or the reckless disregard of another person's safety
or rights.
Loss of consortium - is
the loss of or decrease in sexual activity between spouses as
the result of a personal injury to one of the spouses.
Negligence- is the failure
to take the sort of action a reasonable person would take under
the same circumstances. Negligence is characterized by carelessness,
inattentiveness or a disregard for another's safety. Negligence
is different from an intentional tort.
Punitive Damages - are also
known as exemplary damages and are meant to punish the defendant
for outrageous or particularly egregious behavior. The monetary
awards for punitive damages are over and above that of compensatory
damages.
Reasonable person standard - is
a test in personal injury cases where
a theoretical individual behaves in a reasonable manner under
a specific set of circumstances in order to avoid injuring others.
The defendant in most personal injury cases will be measured against
this theoretical "reasonable person".
Strict liability - is a theory in
product liability law that
says that a company does not need to be either negligent or willful
in injuring another person. With strict liability, it is sufficient
to say that the product caused the injury in order for a case
to go forward.
Tort Law - is the same
as personal injury law. A tort is the injury to person or property
because of negligence, willfulness or because of strict liability.
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