Tort Law and Compensation
Tort law is a branch of civil law that deals with cases involving a party harming or injuring another party. Here’s everything you need to know about tort law and being compensated.
Victims of a tort are entitled to compensation. The party that commits the tort is obligated to pay damages. There are several types of damages that can be awarded in tort law cases.
What does tort law deal with?
Tort law, colloquially known as the law of wrongful injuries, is a branch of law that deals with civil wrongs that cause harm or injury to a claimant. In tort law, harm refers to any loss or detriment an individual suffers, and an injury refers to any invasions of legal rights. There are two primary objectives of tort law, these include:
- Deciding if a party in a given case is legally responsible for the harm inflicted on the other party
- Deciding the quantity of compensation that is owed to the harmed party
There are many types of harm that can exist in different cases. For example, one case can include harm in the form of personal injury while another case can include harm in the form of property damage. Harmed parties have the right to compensation, which is given with the goal of restoring the harmed party back to the state they were in prior to the tort incident.
In more extreme cases, courts may add punitive damages alongside awarded compensatory damages. Punitive damages are included when courts determine that a defendant acted in a particularly irresponsible manner and decide to set an example out of him or her to deter others from engaging in similarly egregious behavior.
Can victims of a tort be compensated?
Compensations
If an individual is a victim of a tort, he or she faces legal injuries that result in financial harm. For example, victims of a car accident may need to deal with the cost of physical treatment. Therefore, tort law entitles victims to receive financial compensations from those that caused them harm.
Damages
Damages deal with the financial harm a victim experiences in a tort law case. The party that commits the tort is legally responsible for assigned damages. Thus, any financial compensation that is awarded to a victim is known as damages. Essentially, liability for damages is determined by tort law. There are three types of damages, including:
Compensatory damages
Compensatory damages work to make a victim “whole”. Thus, these damages are used to pay for any harm a victim suffered as a consequence of his or her legal injury.
Related: Compensatory vs Punitive Damages in California
Nominal damages
Nominal damages cannot be awarded in negligence cases. Rather, they are used when a victim is not entitled to compensatory damages, but may be awarded a trivial sum of money because his or her legal right has been violated.
Punitive damages
Punitive damages are used to punish the party that committed the tort and can be assigned even if a legal injury did not result in harm. These damages are awarded when particularly egregious behavior is committed by an individual, and the court determines said behavior to be malicious, wanton, or willful. These damages serve the purpose of deterring others from committing similar acts as the defendant.
Related: What Are Punitive Damages & When Are They Awarded?
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