Personal Injury
Welcome to our
personal injury page. If the information you need has to do
with the fields of Automobile or
Product Liability please click on
the links above. If the information you seek has to do with
a Jones Act case or offshore injury please go to the Maritime
Section of our web site. Insurance,
Workman's Comp, and other
requests should go to the corresponding area
of practice. Click here to find our areas
of practice
Tort Law:
an overview
Torts are civil wrongs that are
recognized by law as grounds for a lawsuit. These wrongs
result in an injury or harm which constitute the basis for a
claim by the injured party. While some torts are also
crimes punishable with imprisonment, the primary aim of tort
law is to provide relief for the damages incurred and deter
others from committing the same harms. The injured person
may sue for an injunction to prevent the continuation of the
tortious conduct or for monetary damages. (See Damages)
Among the types of damages the injured party may recover are:
loss of earning capacity, pain and suffering, and reasonable
medical expenses. They include both present and future
expected losses.
There are numerous specific torts
such as trespass, assault, battery, negligence, products liability,
and intentional infliction of emotional distress. They fall
into three general categories: intentional torts (e.g.,
intentionally hitting a person); negligent torts (causing an
accident by failing to obey traffic rules); and strict liability
torts (e.g., liability for making and selling defective
products - see Products Liability).
Intentional torts are those wrongs which the defendant knew
or should have known would occur through his action or inaction.
Negligent torts occur when the defendant's actions were unreasonably
unsafe. Strict liability wrongs do not depend on the degree
of carefulness by the defendant, but are established when a
particular action causes damage.
Tort law is state law created through
judges (common law) and by legislatures (statutory law).
Many judges and states utilize the Restatement of Torts (2nd)
as an influential guide. The Restatement is a publication
prepared by the American Law Institute whose aim is to present
an orderly statement of the general law of the United States.
In Louisiana, torte law is governed by Louisiana civil code
article 2315-2322 and by statute.
For more information about Personal Injury
please e-mail us at:
info@panalaw.com
