It’s hard to avoid talk about lawsuits. They make the news all the time, from disputes between private citizens to celebrities suing for royalties. Even when you are casually watching internet videos, there’s a good chance an ad for your local law firm will appear. Legal talk can get confusing. It’s easy to get lost. This person lost a lawsuit…
When a car hits a pedestrian, the driver is not automatically at fault. Walkers are expected to obey traffic laws just like everyone else. Just because they are more vulnerable than a driver, they are not shielded from liability. In fact, a driver could even sue a badly injured pedestrian. Understanding the right of way is a big part of…
We hear a lot of talk about “pain and suffering” in lawsuits. Essentially, this is extra financial compensation that someone receives for their injuries. Of course, no amount of money can fix pain of an injury, but pain and suffering rewards can offer some relief. They give someone breathing room, allowing them to rebuild their lives with fewer financial woes.…
Anything can go wrong with a product you purchased. It can break after only a few uses, or it could be dysfunctional from the start. However, not every problem with a product qualifies as a defect. Product defects are legally defined in a specific way, and you can file a lawsuit using only one of three direct claims. In this…
Depending on your circumstances, you can file a lawsuit for your emotional distress. To be clear, this does not include a relationship gone wrong or an unhappy childhood. Legally speaking, emotional distress happens when someone, through either negligence or direct intent, wrongs you. The result of that wrong is severe trauma or distress, affecting every aspect of your life. Typically,…
Person injury law is centered around fault. The person responsible for an injury should compensate the injured. It is the very backbone of civil justice. Imagine, then, that you are hurt in an accident, but you know you are partly to blame. Let’s say you slip on a puddle in a dilapidated parking lot, and you injure your back. Without…
In the mid-1990s, O.J. Simpson was famously found not guilty for the murder of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson. Not long after, the family of the deceased sued Mr. Simpson and won millions. Many wondered how this was possible if he had already been acquitted. The answer lies in the difference between civil and criminal justice. Criminal justice exists to…
Before embarking on a personal injury lawsuit, you probably want to know if the potential reward is worth the effort. You must make sure you are sufficiently reimbursed for your damages. Remember that a personal injury suit is not about getting rich quickly. At its core, a personal injury suit strives to give a reasonable amount of money to a…
Proving fault in a personal injury case is often about showing a defendant’s negligence. Sometimes that negligence is direct, and the facts are obvious. For example, imagine a driver who was clearly speeding through multiple stop signs and hit another driver who was obeying traffic laws. A case like this requires little investigation. This is what you might call an…
In the U.S., it is technically legal to file a lawsuit for any reason, but a lawsuit does not automatically go forward just because it was filed. Often, judges will “throw out” a case that they believe has no merit. Sometimes, however, lawsuits that seem unjustified make their way to court. People often refer to these suits as “frivolous.” What…