Miami Personal Injury Lawyer

Personal Injury Law & Torts

Personal injury is harm caused to a person by the actions or inaction of another that is tortuous. A tort is improper conduct that amounts to a legal wrong and that causes harm for which courts will impose civil liability on the responsible parties. Such harm may include bodily injury, mental suffering, and economic losses. The basis of a tort is the defendant’s potential to be held legally responsible to the victim for harmful wrongdoing, and the victim’s potential to be compensated by a judgment.

This “compensatory”judgment will usually be a money award called “damages.” In some cases, a punitive damages award may be added to compensatory damages to punish and deter misconduct that is particularly “reckless” or “malicious.”

Legal fault in torts cases is based either on one or a combination of the following categories:

Negligence

Negligent wrongs involve unreasonably risky or substandard behavior that actually causes harm. The defendant in a negligence case may or may not be aware that they are taking unreasonable risks. In negligence cases a standard of reasonable behavior applies. The fact that a defendant may not be aware that there behavior is unreasonable is not necessarily relevant. Medical malpractice and other forms of professional malpractice are forms of negligence.

Intentional Torts

Intentional wrongs require that the defendants actually “intend” to take part in conduct that the law regards as wrongful. Usually, the intentional tort defendant is consciously aware of their wrongdoing.

Strict Liability

Strict liability is different from both negligence and intentional torts, because it means one can be held legally and financially responsible even without fault. Here, legal and financial responsibility is imposed as a matter of policy, irrespective of the defendant’s fault. It is the least common form of liability. The most frequent instances of common law strict liability are cases where the defendant engages in an abnormally dangerous activity and in products liability cases where the defendant designs or manufactures a defective product.

In 30 years of practice, Jeffrey R. Davis P.A. has handled numerous cases of negligence, professional negligence, intentional tort, strict liability claims and insurance claims settlements for our clients. Browse our practice areas to read further on specific areas and to learn more about our legal services.