One of the newest forms of both legal legislation and the insurance industry, personal injury law has enjoyed around eight years of success as a means of protection individuals from employer negligence, factory accidents, car accidents or other third-party related injuries where the injured were not at fault.
It also forms a strict mandate of laws to ensure that individuals and employers not only have strict guidelines to follow but that if they are broken the injured party can claim significant compensation as a result. Below is a very brief history of personal injury law and the main types of claim that are often filed. Getting to grips with this information could help you understand whether you’re entitled to claim compensation and know how to go about it.
Beginnings
Personal injury law was said to have originated in the UK in the 19th Century and made famous when the case of Donoghue versus Stevenson brought the law of negligence to public attention. The case detailed how Mrs. Donoghue bought a bottle of ginger beer from a local café and upon drinking it realised that in the bottom lay the half-decomposed body of a snail. The woman was so angered by this that she sought compensation from the drink’s manufacturers for endangering her health, psychological damage and the suspected gastroenteritis she developed from drinking it.
The case itself made it all the way up to the House of Lords, whereupon her claim was granted on the grounds that failure to adhere to strict safety mandates in the production of the drink may cause similar incidents to re-occur. The company was said to be negligent in their overlooking of the safety of the product; a prime example of the law of negligence that provides the grounds for most personal injury claims to be filed.
Today
Today the law of negligence still forms personal injury law’s backbone. Claims are usually filed against employers who fail to observe and uphold strict safety measures in the workplace that could result in serious injury on behalf of either staff of everyday consumers. Claims such as these can cover everything from loose wires which cause accidents at work, to stray pieces of nutshell in chocolate bars which result in broken teeth.
Personal injury law is also a mainstay of the automotive industry and many claims are filed for injuries caused by the dangerous or negligent driving by another individual.
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