What is a Personal Injury in Burbank? The Importance of a Burbank Personal Injury Attorney?

When Should you Retain Burbank Personal Injury Attorneys?

What is a Personal Injury in Burbank? Locate Burbank personal injury attorneys and find out. Want to learn about the Importance of a Burbank Personal Injury Attorney to you the victim consumer? The purpose of this section is to provide educational resources on what is a personal injury in Burbank, the importance of a Burbank Personal Injury Attorney to you and how to locate the best personal injury attorneys in Los Angeles, California. Our local Burbank law firm will help you know what to do if you, or a loved one is seriously injured in all of California generally, Southern California, or greater Burbank. We will also help you recover damages for pain and suffering, as well as economic damages, assuming you have a valid claim for personal injury.

What is a Personal Injury in Burbank?

A personal injury is a sub-species of tort law. The word “tort”, is taken from ancient Latin, and means inter alia: "A negligent or intentional civil wrong not arising out of a contract or statute." These include "intentional torts" such as battery (striking someone) or defamation (saying untrue things that are hurtful about another to others), and torts for negligence (See jury instructions below.)

Our Los Angeles attorneys agree that a tort is an act that injures someone in some way, and for which the injured person may sue the wrongdoer for damages. Legally, torts like orthopaedic injury, are called civil wrongs, as opposed to criminal wrongs. (Some acts like battery, however, may be both torts and crimes; the wrongdoer may face both civil and/or criminal penalties.)

Under traditional law, family members were prohibited from suing each other for torts. The justification was that allowing family members to sue each other would lead to a breakdown of the family. Today, however, many states recognize that if family members have committed torts against each other, there often already is a breakdown in family relationships. Thus, they no longer bar members from suing each other. In these states, spouses may sue each other either during the marriage or after they have separated.

Normally, tort lawsuits against a spouse are brought separate and apart from any divorce, annulment or other family law case. Alabama, Georgia, Nevada, New York and Tennessee, however, allow or encourage combining the tort case with the family law case; New Jersey requires it.

The jurisdictions that still prohibit one family member from suing another include Arizona, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, Ohio, Texas, Utah, Wyoming and Washington, D.C. These places may make an exception when the tort is intentional. See, for example, Bounds v. Candle, 611 S.W.2d 685 (Texas 1980); Townsend v. Townsend, 708 S.W.2d 646 (Missouri 1986) and Green v. Green, 446 N.E.2d 837 (Ohio 1982).

An injury; a wrong; hence the expression "an executor de son tort", of his own wrong.

Torts may be committed with force, as trespasses, which may be an injury to the person, such as assault, battery, imprisonment; to the property in possession; or they may be committed without force. Torts of this nature are to the absolute or relative rights of persons, or to personal property in possession or reversion, or to real property, corporeal or encorporeal, in possession or reversion: these injuries may be either by nonfeasance, malfeasance, or misfeasance.”

What Types of Burbank , California Personal Injuries are Included in California Law of Torts?
There are many different types of tort injuries that arise in Burbank , California. Most tort injuries are the result of someone’s negligence. However, there are also intentional torts such as battery, assault, or intentional infliction of emotional distress. Negligence is how the great majority of Burbank Personal Injuries occur and is the term used in California Courts and includes but is not limited to:

Wrongful Death Accidents;
Survival Actions;
Premises Liability Injuries, which include slips and falls;
Automobile Accident Injuries, which makes up a large majority of civil case filings in Burbank Courts for negligence;
Airplane Accidents;
Products Liability Injuries, etc.

How Do I Know If I Have Been Injured as the Result of the Negligence of Another?

CACI, the California Jury Instructions, are used by Burbank California Courts and Juries, to determine if a civil defendant has committed the tort of negligence. Ehline has provided the below 2006 CACI Jury instructions, as an educational tool to help you understand more about your potential case an tort law in general:

NEGLIGENCE: “401. Basic Standard Of Care.

Negligence is the failure to use reasonable care to prevent harm to oneself or to others.
A person can be negligent by acting or by failing to act. A person is negligent if he or she does something that a reasonably careful person would not do in the same situation or fails to do something that a reasonably careful person would do in the same situation.
You must decide how a reasonably careful person would have acted in [name of plaintiff/defendant]'s situation.”

PREMISES LIABILITY: “1000. Essential Factual Elements (Revised June 2005).

[Name of plaintiff] claims that [he/she] was harmed because of the way [name of defendant] managed [his/her/its] property. To establish this claim, [name of plaintiff] must prove all of the following:

1. That [name of defendant] [owned/leased/occupied/controlled] the property;

2. That [name of defendant] was negligent in the use or maintenance of the property;

3. That [name of plaintiff] was harmed; and

4. That [name of defendant]'s negligence was a substantial factor in causing [name of plaintiff]'s harm.”

PRODUCTS LIABILITY: “1220. Negligence--Essential Factual Elements.

[Name of plaintiff] [also] claims that [he/she] was harmed by [name of defendant]'s negligence and that [he/she/it] should be held responsible for that harm. To establish this claim, [name of plaintiff] must prove all of the following:

1. That [name of defendant] [designed/manufactured/supplied/installed/inspected/ repaired/rented] the [product];

2. That [name of defendant] was negligent in [designing/manufacturing/ supplying/installing/inspecting/repairing/renting] the [product];

3. That [name of plaintiff] was harmed; and

4. That [name of defendant]'s negligence was a substantial factor in causing [name of plaintiff]'s harm.”

Source: California Jury Instructions (CACI) Educational Web-site.

Is There Such a Thing as a “Junk Lawsuit”?

Insurance companies and the politicians they donate money too, have increased the battle cry that practically every civil lawsuit filed in California and across the United States is a “Junk-Lawsuit.” The insurance industry also asserts that lawsuit filings are out of control. However, these allegations are not based upon any findings by a court, or sound statistics. Rather, this was simply made up, ostensibly, to poison the civil jury pool. And it is working.

The Facts About Negligence Tort Case Filings In California, Federal, State and Burbank Courts

Between 1993 and 2002, California tort filings fell by 18 percent. Source: Washington Monthly Web-site.

U.S. General Accounting Office and the Congressional Budget Office criticize bogus studies about Costs of Lawsuits, finding: “no evidence that restrictions on tort liability reduce medical spending.” “In short, the evidence available to date does not make a strong case that restricting malpractice liability would have a significant effect, either positive or negative, on economic efficiency, the CBO said.” Source: Non Partisan Annenberg Fact Check Web-site.

In fact, the data shows there is no frivolous lawsuit epidemic. Source: ATLA.

Q: How do Insurance Companies Make Money if They Are Paying All this Money in Claims?

Insurance is paid for in premiums by the insured, you and I. When we are in a car wreck, or serious injury accident, we expect our insurance company to be there for us. However, more often than not, we are increasingly faced with hostile insurance adjustors, who try and devalue our claims, pay less than our vehicles are actually worth, or even treat us as if we are guilty of fraud.

In fact, much of this conduct is known as bad faith refusal to provide insurance coverage, and in certain circumstances, forms the basis for a “bad faith Lawsuit” against a first party insured’s insurance company. If you feel you have a bad faith claim against you insurance company, you could even be entitled to punitive damages, to punish the wrongdoer insurance company.

Going up against an insurance company and its highly paid team of lawyers and politicians, is a hard fought battle. It shouldn’t be as a matter of law, but it is. You need Ehline to fight that battle! Ehline wins your Burbank cases. “Do or die!”

How Do I Get the Insurance Company To Pay Me for My Legitimate Burbank Personal Injury Claims?

The answer is simple. If you feel your Burbank , California personal injury claim is legitimate, contact the Law Offices of Michael, A Professional Corporation.

Read the article about Michael Ehline in the Los Angeles Daily Journal (Not a press release.) Contact experienced Los Angeles personal injury attorneys now at 888-400-9721.