Personal injury liability coverage is an insurance policy that protects you financially if you are found legally liable for any injury or damage inflicted upon another. It can cover medical expenses, legal costs, and potential liabilities.
Read about a common type of personal injury cases here>>
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What Does Personal Injury Liability Mean?
Personal injury liability policy means insurance against legal liability of the insured, and against loss, damage, or expense incident to a claim of such liability. Arising out of the death or injury of any person, or arising out of injury to the economic interests of any person as the result of negligence in rendering expert, fiduciary, or professional service. But not including any class of insurance specified in “workers’ compensation and employers’ liability insurance”. It means insurance against the legal liability of any employer for the death or disablement of, or injury to, his or its employee, whether imposed by common law or by statute, or assumed by contract.
How Do Personal Injuries Imply?
Liability in a personal injury case is the legal obligation of one party for personal injury or wrongful death suffered by the other. If you are injured in a truck accident, for example, you can pursue liability against the trucker who was responsible for causing the accident. Depending on relevant circumstances, Florida may either allow you to pursue the liability with fault or absence of it.
What is Personal Injury Liability Coverage?
The importance of personal injury liability coverage becomes quite apparent because it fills one of the more notable coverage breaches in many policies. Bodily Injury and Property Damage claims are covered under any normal personal and business liability policy. Yet there are grounds on which you can be sued that fall between these cracks.
Liabilities listed:
Negligence Liability
Negligence, which means roughly ‘carelessness,’ is the most common basis for personal injury liability. It is a legal theory under which a person or company is liable for an illegal act, and has the following elements that must be proven to win a case.
The defendant owed you a duty of care. This generally tends to be the case since almost anyone has a duty of care to avoid harm to others. The main issue is with respect to the exact nature of that duty. For example, a doctor must exhibit a higher level of care with regard to the services rendered to the patient. The defendant breached their duty of care: Whatever the defendant’s duty of care, the ‘breach’ element is met if the defendant failed to meet its demands. An example could be a motorist operating a vehicle past a stop signal, or maybe the attending physician simply not ordering the lab tests that you needed.
Damages
You must prove every dime of the losses you are claiming. In fact, the negligence of the defendant must have caused the injury for which you are complaining. In other words, but for the negligence of the defendant, would the injury have occurred?
Proximate Cause
The defendant’s act of negligence need not be the only cause of your accident, but it must have been one of the causes in a way a reasonable person would have foreseen as a likely consequence of the defendant’s negligent act.
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Read the full article about How Long Do I Have to File a Personal Injury Claim
No-Fault Liability
Under specific types of personal injury claims, one can win without having to prove that the defendant is at fault. Florida car accident law is different from most states’ car accident law because it is a “no-fault” state. For most injuries, you file a claim against your own personal injury protection (PIP) insurance without having to worry about who was at fault.
However, if your injuries are serious enough or you fall under one of the exceptions, then you can go around these no-fault rules and sue the at-fault party.
Dog Bites
For the dog bite injury, the owner can be sued for damages without proving that the owner at any time was negligent in handling the dog, and that the dog had never bitten anybody before. The owner might have a defense if you provoked the dog or if you were trespassing on their property.
A Workers’ Compensation Claims
Most injuries sustained at the workplace are handled by the workers’ compensation system. This system is referred to as “no-fault” because you can collect damages without proving that your employer was at fault. Workers’ compensation covers only a portion of your economic damages, as well as none of your non-economic damages. However, if you can identify the third party who caused the damages, then you can go ahead and sue that party for claiming non-economic damages.
Product Liability Claims
If you were injured by a product that was proven to be defective to the point where it constituted a danger to the user, then you can sue the manufacturer, retailer, or distributor. You don’t have to prove fault to win, but you have to prove that the product was defective and unreasonably dangerous.
Vicarious Liability
A party can bear liability for the consequences of the wrongful act of another party under the concept of vicarious liability.
Employer-Employee Liability
If you were injured through the negligence of an employee while such employee was acting within the scope of his/her employment duties, you may sue the employer for personal injury liability. For instance, a delivery driver could have caused a traffic accident while making a delivery.
Independent Contractors
Independent contractors are not employees, and thus, you cannot sue the employer of an independent contractor for the misconduct of an independent contractor. The rationale behind this exception is primarily due to the level of freedom exercised by the independent contractor; their “employer” is practically their client and not their boss.
Intentional Tort Liability
An intentional tort occurs when someone directly causes harm or abuse to another person. The victim can then sue the tortfeasor for personal injury. Most times, however, the prosecutor also sues for criminal liability. Here are some examples of intentional torts:
Assault
A person who willfully subjects you to the fear of your immediate injury engages in assault. For instance, a gun to your face counts. It does not matter if the gun is not loaded as long as the victim reasonably believes it was loaded. Cocking their fist or taking a swing at you can also constitute assault.
Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress
You may sue a person who purposely inflicted extreme emotional distress upon you without a physical injury. An example is when an individual phones, pretending to be the county coroner, only to tell you your family member died due to an accident.
Comparative Fault
A defendant may reduce the liability for his actions under which the condition leading to harm was generated partly by your negligence. For instance, if you were 30 percent responsible for the incident, a court would reduce the defendant’s liability by 30 percent. If the fault was more than 50 percent on the plaintiff’s side, then the liability of the defendant goes to zero.
Have you been in a car accident? Read what’s right for you>>
Bottom Line!
You can fight back with the help of our Tenina Law personal injury lawyer. It is possible to resolve a few minor injury claims on your own; however, filing a large claim for personal injury liability against the party at fault is generally not a good idea, especially if you have to negotiate with an insurance adjuster.
Call our experienced personal injury lawyer at Tenina Law to supply you with the assistance you need.
