Understanding the Types of Personal Injury Cases: A Comprehensive Guide

Types of Personal Injury Cases

There are numerous types of personal injury cases. Let’s take a more detailed look at the most common ones. 

Motor Vehicle Accidents

North Carolina is a ‘fault state,’ meaning accident victims can recover damages if the accident resulted from someone else’s negligence.

Motor vehicle accidents include the following:

• Care accidents
• Bicycle accidents
• Pedestrian accidents
• Truck accidents
• Motorcycle accidents
• ATV accidents
• Train accidents
• Taxi and rideshare accidents
• Public transportation accidents

In all the above incidences, the injured party seeking compensation must prove negligence on the defendant’s part. As an injured party, therefore, the onus is on you to prove that a duty was owed, that the defendant breached this duty, causation, and damages. 

Generally, all drivers, on water, road, and rail, owe a duty of care to other users. Therefore, driving under the influence, distracted driving, fatigued driving, and not ensuring motor vehicle roadworthiness are all breaches. 

Motor vehicle and truck accidents are unique in the type of injuries they leave behind. Motorcyclists don’t have the cushion of a car’s body to absorb some of the effects of a crush. Instead, the cyclist absorbs all the impact of a crash.  

Similarly, trucks can wreak havoc on the road by their sheer might and power. Aside from the impact itself, trucks often ferry flammable or hazardous compounds. It’s, therefore, not uncommon for motorcycle and truck accidents to leave behind catastrophic injuries. These include amputations, head and brain injuries, severe burns, and spinal cord injuries. Loss of sight and even paralysis. Compensation for such injuries includes detailed financial projections for treatment, rehabilitation, lost income, lost future earnings, pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, and so on. 

Medical Malpractice

Doctors take an oath to do no harm. Still, a recent report from the Johns Hopkins Hospital states that as many as 250,000 people die from malpractice in the country annually. Other sources peg the number at 440,000. 

Examples of medical malpractice include:

• Misdiagnosis
• Delay in diagnosis of a severe ailment that leaves a patient worse off
• Childbirth injuries
• Prescription errors- issuance of the wrong medication or erroneous dosages
• Anesthesia errors
• Failure to treat
• Inadequate follow-up and aftercare, more so after surgery
• Surgical errors- operating on the wrong body part, leaving surgical tools inside a patient, organ damage, infections from improper surgical tool sterilization

Injuries from medical malpractice can be, and are often, life-altering. A personal injury claim from malpractice seeks to reimburse victims for emotional, physical, and financial hardship. And it goes beyond money.

Medical negligence claims also seek to ensure investigations are done, and systemic and incompetence issues are addressed for better healthcare delivery in the future. 

Premise Liability 

Anyone who owns, leases, or operates a residential or commercial property is expected to ensure it’s safe for patronage. Additionally, they are obligated to inform patrons about any existing hazards.

Failure to do so and the individual can be held liable should someone get injured on the property. 

Some common premise liability claims are:

• Slip and fall accidents
• Snow and ice accidents
• Fires
• Inadequate building security leading to assault
• Carbon monoxide or other toxic chemical poisoning, including mold and asbestos
• Waterpark, swimming pool, and other amusement park accidents
• Escalator and elevator accidents
• Construction site accidents
• Falling objects
• Falls from uneven stairs
• Unmarked and poorly lit ramps, sidewalks, and curbs

Besides seeking compensation for economic and non-economic damages, you can also sue for punitive damages. 

These are damages imposed on the defendant to punish them for their particularly bad, outrageous, or extremely reckless acts that caused their injuries. 

Workplace Injuries

Businesses are expected to provide safe work environments.

This includes:

• Making sure workers are adequately trained
• Providing and maintaining a safe and suitable workspace
• Undertaking periodic risk assessments
• Minimizing health risks and hazards

Unfortunately, businesses too often neglect the safety of their workers or take shortcuts that expose workers to unnecessary hazards. This can lead to terrifying, life-changing injuries or worse. 

Some common causes of injuries in the workplace include:

• Exposure to electrical currents

• Transportation incidents

• Slip and fall accidents

• Construction site falls

• Chemical poisoning

• Farm accidents

• Crush accidents

• Warehouse and factory accidents

You must file a personal injury lawsuit within two years if you get injured at work. However, you must notify your employer of your injury within 30 days of the incident. Failure to do this can negate your claim to worker’s compensation. 

Product Liability

Product liability lawsuits arise if a seller or manufacturer puts out a product that injures you. This could be from its design or from a manufacturing defect. 

While these are not common, they will sometimes yield thousands of victims, leading to expensive payouts. An excellent example is the Johnson & Johnson Toxic baby powder that brought forward 20,000 lawsuits.

An example of product liability based on its design is a top-heavy vehicle, making it more susceptible to toppling over. 

Product liability on manufacturing defects sits on the premise that a product is safe for use, but something went wrong during manufacturing that makes the product dangerous. 

For example, an airbag company that has made safe, good quality, perfectly functioning airbags for years. But makes a set with a missing part. As a result, an individual crashes, and the airbags fail to deploy as they should. 

Wrongful Death

If injuries from any of the above categories lead to the death of a loved one, then you can sue for wrongful death.

Like in other types of personal injury cases, wrongful death claims seek to compensate for medical bills, funeral expenses, and the pain and suffering the deceased went through. Additionally, bereaved loved ones can seek compensation for the deceased’s future income and earnings and for their loss of companionship. 

One glaring difference between a wrongful death suit and most other personal injury lawsuits is that a third party files the suit. 

However, not everyone is legally eligible to file a wrongful death suit for a loved one. To file, you must be:

• A surviving spouse
• the departed parent or child
• An immediate family member like siblings and grandparents
• A dependent of the deceased
• A representative of the deceased’s person’s estate

The statute of limitations for wrongful death is two years. 

However, if the death is caused by medical malpractice, the clock doesn’t start running until you discover the link. An example is when an autopsy report comes months after the death, showing a surgical error caused the death. The clock on the statute will begin running after receipt of the autopsy report, note on the day the person died.

You can similarly get extensions on product liability because the effects of a product might not be evident the day you make a purchase. 

Other types of personal injury cases include:

• Animal attacks and bites
• Assault
• Burns
• Civil battery
• Asbestos and toxic mold exposure in apartments and workplaces
• Aviation accidents
• Head and spinal cord injuries
• Food poisoning