You have heard of tort law, but do you know what it is? Hint: it’s not a dessert. Read on to learn everything you need to know about torts!
The law comes in all different shapes and sizes and it isn’t always what you see on L.A Law.
The biggest types of law that you’ve probably heard of are criminal law and civil law. Criminal law is where the State is the injured party. It is the State that prosecutes those who have broken the criminal law not the individual whom that law breaking injured.
Civil law is the application of the law between two individuals and the penalties are often financial and do not result in the losing party going to jail or getting a criminal record.
Where the injured party is another person a court must decide if that injured person requires some form of compensation for deformation, physical injury or because they are legally owed something.
Tort law is decided in civil courts. Here’s a tort law definition.
What is Tort Law?
Tort cases are where harm has taken place to the injured party and they wish to seek redress through the courts from the person at fault. In this case, the injury might not be regarded as a physical injury, though it includes that in its definition.
You can generally only sue the person who is liable for the ‘injury’ you have received and the law might sometimes require pre-hearings to determine who is liable if it is a complicated case. Usually, the law makes it clear who is liable and who is not.
Tort Law is one of the earliest exams you take as a law student, as Kim Kardashian, currently studying for her California State bar exams, has recently found out.
If she passes she could go on to work for a law firm like Greene Broillet& Wheeler, LLP.
What Resolutions Are Available?
Damages for tort cases are not just economic. A successful litigant can sue for an injunction which can force the defendant to stop pursuing certain activity.
Injunction
Perhaps they are building an extension to their house and there is a dispute as to whether part of it encroaches onto a neighbors land, a court can impose an injunction.
Or perhaps it is more serious than that. Perhaps the case pertains to harassment and the defendant has been accused of persistently engaging in an activity that the plaintiff objects to.
Financial Damages
An injunction can be a simple way of resolving the case but often it can not be enough.
Monetary compensation or compensatory damages is what is needed. These can only be to the value of the damage that has incurred, as decided by the courts, and might include things like hospital bills, loss of income or wages and out of pocket expenses.
A court can award damages based on expenses or bills the plaintiff might incur in the future as well as ones he or she has already incurred.
Get to Know Tort Law
In the future A.I might be able to help us write better, more simple laws but for now, the current laws still stand.
If you are studying to become a lawyer or you are interested in law then learning about tort law and the different resolutions that are available to such cases is important.
Be sure to read our article on personal injury lawyers for more.