Tort Liability: Protecting and Compensating Victims (2024)

What Does Tort Mean in Law?

Most people have likely never heard the term “tort.” However, it refers to a field of law that is a cornerstone of the American legal system. Every lawyer learns about torts in law school, and they represent one of the core subjects tested on every state bar examination.

Tort liability arises from physical, financial, or reputational harm caused by someone else’s actions. Confusingly, however, not every action results in liability. And even more odd is that some liabilities arise from inaction or unintended actions.

The best way to understand how tort liability works is by examining the types of liability and tort law examples for each.

On that note, the first thing to learn is that torts fall into the following three categories:

Intentional Torts

As their name suggests, intentional torts happen when the at-fault party causes harm through an intentional action. Examples of these torts include the following:

• Battery from intentional harmful or offensive contact

• Assault from intentionally causing imminent fear of battery

• False imprisonment by intentionally restraining someone’s freedom

• Defamation from intentionally speaking or publishing false statements of fact

Notably, victims of intentional torts do not need to prove that the person responsible for their injuries intended to cause their specific injuries. Instead, to prove tortious liability, victims only need to prove that the tortfeasor (the person who committed the tort) intended to take harmful action.

That has two important implications. First, it means you can seek compensation for an intentional tort where you were harmed due to an action directed at someone else. For example, you would have a valid claim if someone intentionally threw a coffee cup at someone else but hit you instead.

Second, it means you can pursue claims for injuries that might have been more serious than intended. Suppose someone tells lies about you in an online video that goes viral. You can recover your losses even if the tortfeasor did not intend for such widespread publication.

Negligence

Breaches of duty to particular persons causing loss or injury are categorized as acts of negligence. Negligence allows victims to recover compensation for injuries resulting from unintentional acts. In other words, it encompasses wrongs wherein the other party did not intend the action that harmed you but injured you anyway.

However, negligence has its limits. In particular, tort law negligence requires proof of the following four elements:

• A duty of care formed from the relationship between the parties

• A breach of duty by failing to act with reasonable care

• Damages sustained due to physical injuries

• Causation of those damages by the breach of duty

The best way to understand the scope of negligence is with an example: Suppose that someone T-boned your car when they went through a stop sign while you were in an intersection. The driver might have committed a tort violation if the accident happened because they were texting and failed to see the stop sign. Such actions represent a failure to exercise reasonable care.

Strict Liability

Strict liability covers injuries resulting from potentially hazardous activities. Manufacturers are strictly liable for injuries caused by the defective products they release to the public, for instance. That means manufacturers are liable for design, manufacturing, and warning defects, even if they were completely unaware of them.

Similarly, dog owners in many states, such as Arizona, are strictly liable for injuries or property damage caused by their dogs. As a result, victims can sue for dog bites regardless of the dog’s history of viciousness or the owner’s efforts to contain the dog.

How the Tort Liability System Works

When you suffer an injury, your very first step will be to, of course, seek medical care. But as your bills and missed paychecks mount, you’ll need to look for a way to relieve the financial pressure. A personal injury claim can provide essential compensation to help a victim like yourself make ends meet while they focus on their health.

Many tortfeasors have liability insurance. Under these policies, an insurer agrees to pay any damages caused by a covered act. For example, a doctor will carry medical malpractice insurance to pay for any losses resulting from professional negligence.

As such, you or your lawyer will file an insurance claim. The insurer will investigate your injury and its causes and decide whether to pay the claim. If the insurer accepts the claim, you and your lawyer will negotiate a fair personal injury settlement.

However, insurers also deny many claims. You can file a lawsuit against the at-fault party if you cannot overcome the denial. In the suit, you and your attorney must prove liability and submit evidence of your losses. The evidence will help the judge or jury determine fair compensation for your injuries.

Compensation Recoverable for Tort Liability

You can recover two types of compensation after a tort. Special tort liability refers to losses that are unique (or “special”) to your situation and must, therefore, be proved. Examples of special losses include medical bills and lost income, which depend on your specific injuries.

General tort liability describes losses that everyone suffers. For example, everyone experiences pain from their injuries, as well as anxiety and worries about their health following their accident. Thus, pain and suffering are examples of general losses.

Learn More About Torts From ConsumerShield

Personal injury attorneys practice tort law. However, many victims of physical or reputational injuries do not know where to start looking for the right lawyer for their cases. ConsumerShield will help you gain a tighter grasp of the law and find an attorney who will best represent you. Contact us for a free case evaluation.