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Is Your Tort Case a Personal Injury Claim or Lawsuit?In your tort case you must be clear on the difference between a personal injury claim and a personal injury tort lawsuit.A personal injury CLAIM is strictly between you and the defendant or their insurance company. It does not involve the courts. A personal injury LAWSUIT is when you take the defendant to court because they won't give you a fair injury settlement. You'll file a lawsuit when you need a court's ruling to force a payment. Definition of 'Tort' - a civil wrong, or the area of law involving civil wrongs (Tort Law). Anyone who suffers damages can use tort law to get compensation from the person or entity who's legally responsible (or "liable") for their injuries. Your tort case begins when you get injured. You'll then make a claim against the defendant. You ask for money to compensate you for your injuries. You basically say, "Listen, you're responsible for my injuries and here's what I expect you to give me for damages." The insurance company then processes (i.e. "researches") your claim - they obtain all the medical records, the police report, etc. - and decides on their response. The insurance company either says, "OK, this claim is legitimate, we'll give this person the entire injury settlement amount they're asking for." Or they'll say "This person has no real injuries so we're giving him nothing." Most of the time their response is somewhere inbetween. So you'll have to negotiate. You state the reasons why your injuries are worth more, they'll come back with why they're worth less, and so on. Through negotiating you should reach a compromise. If they agree to give you a fair personal injury settlement amount then the process ends - without ever involving the courts. But if you can't reach a compromise (i.e. the defendant refuses to pay what your injuries are really worth) then you'll file a tort lawsuit against them. You'll have to sue them in court to recover your damages. You can actually choose to sue whenever you want. But since your legal costs will likely double once you involve the courts, plan on pursuing your other options first. And remember that if you don't have a valid tort case you're not going to get very far in court. To help establish a guideline for personal injury cases, most states have what's called a "Serious Injury Threshold." Basically, if you don't break this threshold then you don't have a valid case. Examples of things that would break this threshold are a broken limb or permanent disability. The easiest of the criteria to meet is that 90 out of the first 180 days after the injury your physical abilities were significantly affected. But remember that each state is different. In most tort cases you'll file a claim first and see what kind of injury settlement offer you can get from the insurance company. If they give you an acceptable amount then take it. If not, then you'll have to file a lawsuit. Even if the injury settlement amount they're offering you is a little less than you were hoping for, you may want to take it. The costs of going to trial will be substantial and although you may get a larger settlement overall, the amount you take home will likely be less (after legal costs and your lawyer's fee are subtracted). Be aware that there's a Statute of Limitations on personal injury cases in all states! Usually it's 2 or 3 years. Be sure to find out your state's limitation statute. If you don't file your lawsuit in court within that time period you will lose all your rights to recover damages. Return from Tort Case to Accident Settlements Return from Tort Case to the Personal Injury Settlement Guide Personal Injury Areas How Much Is Your Case Worth? Find out NOW! Complete this form for a FREE case review by an experienced attorney... The accuracy of information on this site is not guaranteed. Information on this site is strictly opinion and should not be considered formal legal advice. Under no circumstances should the information on this site be used to make decisions about the proper course of a legal matter.Click below to read our full User Agreement, Disclaimer and Copyright Information.
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