Personal injury
[3] Historically, personal injury lawsuits in tort for monetary damages were virtually nonexistent before the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century.
[4] In agrarian, pre-industrial societies where most people did not travel far from home during their lifetimes, accidental bodily injuries inflicted by one stranger upon another were quite rare.
[6] Another obstacle was that if an injury was severe enough to kill the victim, the common law followed the maxim actio personalis moritur cum persona.
It was not until the 19th century that legislatures throughout the common law world began to remedy this grave injustice by enacting statutes (e.g., the Fatal Accidents Act 1846) allowing for post-death wrongful death claims.
[7] Similarly, from the 1840s to the 1890s, legislatures throughout the common law world began to also enact statutes overturning the witness disqualification rule (after which victims could directly testify to how they had been injured and had subsequently suffered).
[6] In common law jurisdictions before the 1850s, an injury had to fit into a very small category in order to serve as the basis of a legal action worth pursuing to a final verdict: the injury was serious enough to justify legal action, but not so severe as to kill the victim; the injury, its cause, and its consequences had all been witnessed by entirely disinterested third parties; the defendant was a stranger to the plaintiff, but one with recoverable money or assets within the boundaries of the jurisdiction; and the plaintiff was able to find competent counsel willing and able to pursue such a rare kind of legal action.
The American Bar Association's Model Rules of Professional Conduct proposes that lawyers should be prohibited from bringing – or defending – a lawsuit "unless there is a basis in law and fact for doing so that is not frivolous.
Depending upon state regulations, a plaintiff's attorney may charge 1/3 of the proceeds recovered if a case is settled out of court or 40 percent if the matter must be litigated.
Although some jurisdictions have historically helped people obtain affordable legal representation, those systems have typically been narrowed and may exclude personal injury cases.
For example, in England legal aid from the government was largely abolished in the late 1990s and replaced with arrangements whereby the client would be charged no fee if her or his case was unsuccessful.
If a lawsuit is not filed in a timely manner the statute of limitations provides a defense that can allow the defendant to have the case dismissed with no compensation to the plaintiff.
[15] Another exception is if the accident caused an injury, as an example industrial deafness, then the three-year period will start from when injured party knew or ought to have known that he or she had a claim.
[18] In the United Kingdom, the Damages Act 1996 gives the Lord Chancellor the ability to set a discount rate which courts must consider when awarding compensation for future financial losses in personal injury cases, reflecting the expectation that a lump sum compensation payment will attract investment interest.
In 2017, Liz Truss, then Lord Chancellor, reduced the rate to minus 0.75%, because three year average of real yields on index-linked gilts had fallen since 2001 and because of her legal duty to treat people in receipt of injury compensation awards as "risk-averse investors".
In practice, it can lead to moral hazard, as it encourages people to engage in behavior they would otherwise avoid for fear of legal liability, such as putting out a trampoline for neighborhood children to use.
[25] Personal injury claims represent a considerably smaller percentage of cases filed in state courts.
For example, for the purposes of general liability, a 2001 survey found that a minority of courts included emotional distress within the definition of bodily injury.
In the U.S., twelve states and the territory of Puerto Rico have no-fault auto insurance systems, which provide financial support to those injured in car accidents.
[34] In the United States, for federal taxes payable to the IRS, the money awarded in a personal injury settlement as compensation for pain and suffering, medical expenses and property damage is not ordinarily taxable.
Exceptions may apply, for example, if a plaintiff took a tax deduction in a prior year for medical expenses that are recovered through a later judgment or settlement.
Minors in California who are filing a claim against an entity or person has until 2 years after their 18th birthdays to satisfy the statute of limitations.
The book Guidelines for the Assessment of General Damages in Personal Injury Cases, produced by the Judicial College, is influential in determining how much money is awarded by courts.
