While out and about in North Carolina, you suffered harm due to no fault of your own. You think another’s negligence contributed to your injuries, but could another basis exist for your injuries?
American Bar Association explores two alternate bases for personal injury claims. Even if negligence did not lead to your harm, you could still have a viable case.
Intentional wrongs
While rare, an intentional wrong could become the basis for your personal injury case. For instance, as a joke, someone could trip you and cause you to fall and sustain an injury. You could win a battery lawsuit under those circumstances. Say a store owner accuses you of stealing and detains you against your will until the police arrive. You could have grounds for a false imprisonment claim.
Examples of intentional torts include mental distress, defamation, and assault and battery. You may press criminal charges for those torts. For intentional wrongs, you may have a tort case. The civil proceeding becomes separate from criminal charges the government may bring against a person.
Strict liability
With strict liability, manufacturers and designers bear responsibility for harm their defective products cause. For this area of tort law, you need not prove the designer’s or manufacturer’s negligence caused your injury. Instead, you need only prove the company created or built the product in a way that caused unnecessary risk when used as directed.
You deserve to consider your personal injury suit from every viable angle. That way, you have all the information you need to make well-informed decisions about your legal case.
