Personal injury can be a physical, financial or a mental injury caused by another person, object or company. A person can sue and claim for personal injury compensation if he has been a victim of slip and fall injuries, nursing home abuse, car accidents, defective product injury, exposure to toxic materials, medical malpractices, wrongful death (due to negligence), drug injury, dog bite, job injuries, and so on.
Each state in the US has its own personal injury laws. Oregon has some strict personal injury laws. These come under both federal laws as well as state laws. Personal injury law is also known as “Tort Law”. A tort is simply any injury caused to a person by another. Anybody can claim for damages under this law for physical or emotional injury as well as for property damages. In case of death, the family members of the deceased can claim for damages.
Tort Law provides for four main objectives: 1) To win compensation for victims of personal injury; 2) To legally obligate the person who harmed the victim to pay punitive damages; 3) To prevent the recurrence of similar reckless or negligent action in the future and 4) To defend the victims’ legal rights. Personal injury cases under the Torts Law can be based on three grounds: strict liability, negligence and intentional wrong. Strict liability is generally against product manufacturers whose product may have caused some injury; negligence is against anyone who could have prevented the injury while intentional wrong is against anyone or anything that has intentionally caused the injury e.g. domestic battery. The Torts Law covers most personal injuries under these three grounds.
There are many personal injury lawyers in Oregon. Information about these lawyers and law firms can be obtained through the yellow pages, or by seeking the advice of your attorney, friends or family members. The Internet is a very good source for finding good Oregon Personal injury lawyers.
Feeling lost? Do not panic. It is quite difficult for general people. So take help from personal injury lawyers of your state. State attorneys know the state personal injury laws better than anyone else.
Generally, personal injury lawyers and law firms do not ask the victims to pay attorney fees while filing compensation claim. They collect their fees from the compensation amount at the end of the case. However, you may need to pay court costs and some other fees. So talk to your attorney about the costs; go ahead and apply your rights.