What does “personal injury law” really mean?

Personal injury law is a nuanced body of civil law.  The word civil is important here because personal injury law gives injured people the right to sue in a civil action, as opposed to a criminal action. Another word for a civil action is: tort.

According to Black's Law Dictionary, a tort is:

"1. A civil wrong, other than breach of contract, for which a remedy may be obtained...in the form of damages;  a breach of duty that the law imposes on persons who stand in a particular relation to one another.  2. The branch of law dealing with such wrongs."

There are numerous sub-categories of torts, including, but not limited to:

• constitutional torts,


• dignatary torts/defamation,


• governmental torts,


• intentional torts, e.g. battery,


• mass torts,


• negligent torts,


• personal torts,


• prenatal torts,


• prima facie torts,


• property torts,


• public torts,


• quasi-torts, and


• toxic torts.

A person who commits a tort is called a: tortfeasor.

It is easy to think of torts/personal injuries in terms of real world occurrences, e.g. dog bites, atv accidents, trucking collisions, boating accidents, car crashes.  Personal injuries occur with shocking frequency.  It's very easy to understand the real world consequences of these injuries because they are so evident.  What is not so obvious is that there are laws that exist to provide people with compensation for their injuries, personal injury laws.

So very often, people don't realize that they are entitled to compensation for their injuries.  Very often they fall through the cracks of the legal system and do not recover for their injuries. Personal injury attorneys ensure that people do not fall through the cracks, and ensure that people receive the compensation that they are entitled.