Tort
A breach of some obligation, causing harm or injury to someone; a civil wrong, such as negligence or libel.
Plaintiff
In a civil case, the injured party who brings legal action against the alleged wrongdoer.
Judgment
A court's decision in a civil case.
Defendant
The person against whom a claim is made. In a civil suit, the defendant is the person being sued; in a criminal case, the defendant is the person charged with committing a crime.
Damages
(1) Money asked for or paid by court order to a plaintiff for injuries or losses suffered; (2) the injuries or losses suffered by one person due to the fault of another.
Liable
Legally responsible.
Remedy
What is done to compensate for an injury or to enforce some right.
Liability
Legal responsibility; the obligation to do or not to do something. The defendant in a tort case incurs liability for failing to use reasonable care, resulting in harm to the plaintiff.
Settlement
A mutual agreement between two sides in a civil lawsuit, made either before the case goes to trial or before a final judgment is entered, that settles or ends the dispute.
Common Law
A system in which court decisions establish legal principles and rules of law.
Statutes
Written laws enacted by legislatures.
Intentional Wrong
An action taken deliberately to harm another person and/or his or her property; intentional wrong.
Negligence
The failure to exercise a reasonable amount of care in either doing or not doing something, resulting in harm or injury to another person.
Strict Liability
The legal responsibility for damage or injury even if you are not negligent.
Defense
A denial, answer, or plea by a defendant, disputing the correctness of charges against the defendant.
Civil Law
All law that does not involve criminal matters, such as tort and contract law. Civil law usually deals with private rights of individuals, groups, or businesses.
Standard of proof
The level of certainty and the degree of evidence necessary to establish proof in a criminal or civil proceeding. The standard of proof in a criminal trial is generally beyond a reasonable doubt, whereas a civil case generally requires the lesser standard
Preponderance of the evidence
Usually the standard of proof used in a civil suit; the burden of proof that a party must meet in order to win the lawsuit. To win, a party must provide evidence that is more convincing than the other side's evidence.
Deep Pockets
A description of the person or organization, among many possible defendants, best able to pay damages and therefore most likely to be sued in a tort case.
Minor
A child; a person under the legal age of adulthood, usually 18 or 21.
Immune
Exempt from penalties, payments, or legal requirements; free from prosecution.
Waive
To give up some right, privilege, or benefit voluntarily.
Class Action
A lawsuit brought by on or more persons on behalf of a larger group.
Contingency Fee
The fee paid to an attorney based on a percentage of the sum the client is awarded or settles for in a lawsuit.
Liability insurance
The types of coverage or insurance that pays for injuries to other people or damage to property if the individual insured is responsible for an accident during the term of the contract.
Contract
A legally enforceable agreement between two or more people to exchange something of value.
Premiums
Payments made for insurance coverage.
Malpractice
Failure to meet acceptable standards of practice in any professional or official position; often the basis for lawsuits by clients or patients against their attorney or physician.
Medical Coverage
Insurance which covers an individual's own medical expenses resulting from accidents.
Collision Coverage
Insurance that pays for damage to the insured's own car caused by an automobile collision.
Deductible
The amount an insured person agrees to pay toward repairs before the insurance company pays anything.
Comprehensive coverage
The portion of an insurance policy that protects an individual against automobile damages or losses other than collisions. It includes damages and losses due to fire, vandalism, or theft.
Uninsured Motorist Coverage
Insurance that protects drivers from those with no insurance or inadequate insurance. It compensates the insured for the personal injuries or damage the uninsured driver caused.
No Fault Insurance
A form of automobile or accident insurance (available in only a few states) in which each person's insurance company pays up to a certain share of damages, regardless of fault.
Exclusive Remedy
The only solution, or compensation, available to a plaintiff in a particular legal situation.
Intentionally
with PURPOSE.
Intentional Tort
An action taken deliberately to harm another person and/or his or her property; intentional wrong.
Compensatory Damages
In a civil case, money the court requires a defendant to pay a winning plaintiff to make up for harm caused. This harm can be financial, physical, and, in some jurisdictions, emotional.
Nominal Damages
A token amount of money awarded by a court to a plaintiff to show that the claim was justified, even if the plaintiff is unable to prove economic harm.
Punitive damages
Awards in excess of the proven economic loss. In a tort action, they are awarded to the plaintiff to punish the defendant and to warn others not to engage in such conduct.
Battery
Any intentional, unlawful physical contact inflicted on one person by another without consent. In some states, this is combined with assault.
Assault
An intentional threat, show of force, or movement that causes a reasonable fear of, or an actual physical contact with, another person. Can be a crime or a tort.
Infliction of emotional distress
A tort in which a defendant purposely engages in an action that causes extreme emotional harm to the plaintiff.
False imprisonment
The intentional or wrongful confinement of another person against his or her will.
Defamation
Written or spoken expression about a person that is false and damages that person's reputation.
Slander
Spoken expression about a person that is false and damages that person's reputation.
Libel
A written expression about a person that is false and damges that person's reputation.
Real Property
Land an all items attached to it, such as houses, crops, and fences.
Personal Property
Property or belongings that can be moved, such as cars, clothing, furniture, and appliances.
Intellectual property
A person's idea or invention that is given special ownership protections.
Trespass
The unauthorized intrusion on, or improper use of, property belonging to another person. This can be the basis of an intentional tort case or a criminal prosecution.
Nuisance
The unreasonable interference with the use and enjoyment of one's property, usually repeated or continued for prolonged periods of time.
Injunction
A court order requiring a person to do, or refrain from doing, a particular act.
Attractive Nuisance
Doctrine that says if a person keeps something on his or her premises that is likely to attract children, that person must take reasonable steps to protect children against dangers the condition might cause.
Conversion
In tort law, the taking or controlling of another's property without consent. If the property is not returned to the rightful owner, the court can force the defendant to give the plaintiff the monetary value of the property.
Patent
Federal protection for an invention or design, giving the inventor exclusive ownership rights for a period of time.
copyright
The protection of a creative fixed expression giving the owner exclusive rights to the expression.
infringement
the illegal use of someone's intellectual property, such as a copyright, patent, or trademark.
Novel
Truly new or unique.
Monopoly
Exclusive ownership or possession.
Derivative works
A work that is very similar to but slightly different from a copyrighted work.
First Sale
The first purchaser of a piece of copyrighted material may legally resell that particular copy of the protected work.
Fair Use
a Clause of the copyright statute that allows limited reproduction of a copyrighted work for noncommercial purposes.
Consent
Written, spoken, or assumed agreement to something.
Privilege
(1) an advantage, right to preferential treatment, or excuse from a duty others must perform; (2) a right that cannot be taken away; (3) the right to speak or write personally damaging words because the law specially allows it; (4) the right and the duty
Self Defense
The right to defend oneself with whatever force is reasonably necessary against an actual or reasonably perceived threat of personal harm.
Defense of Property
The use of reasonable force, which would otherwise be illegal, to defend your home or other property.
Negligence
The failure to exercise a reasonable amount of care in either doing or not doing something, resulting in harm or injury to another person.
Elements
The conditions that make an act unlawful.
Duty
A legal obligation.
Breach (of duty)
The violation of a law, duty, or other form of obligation, including obligations formed through contracts or warranties, either by engaging in an action or failing to act.
Reasonable person standard
The idealized standard of how a community expects its members to act. It is based on how much care a person of ordinary prudence would exercise in a particular situation.
Causation
The reason an event occurs; that which produces an effect. One of the four elements that must be proven in a negligence case, causation is subdivided into cause in fact and proximate cause.
Damages
(1) Money asked for or paid by court order to a plaintiff for injuries or losses suffered; (2) the injuries or losses suffered by one person due to the fault of another.
Cause in fact
One of the elements a plaintiff must prove in order to establish causation in a negligence suit. It means that if the harm would not have occurred without the wrongful act, the act is the cause in fact.
Proximate Cause
In negligence law, this concept limits damages the defendant must pay to only those harms that are reasonably predictable consequences of the defendants's wrongful acts.
Foreseeable Harm
Injury a person could reasonably predict. For instance, a person who leaves a banana peel on the floor could reasonably predict that someone might slip on the peel, fall, and break a bone. If this happens, the broken bone is a foreseeable harm.
Contributory Negligence
A legal defense in which it is determined that the plaintiff and defendant share the fault for a negligence tort. If proven, the plaintiff cannot recover damages.
Comparative Negligence
In a tort suit, a finding that the plaintiff was partly at fault and therefore, does not deserve full compensation for his or her injuries. For example, if an accident was 40 percent the plaintiff's fault, the plaintiff's damages are reduced by 40 percent
Counterclaim
A claim made by a defendant against the plaintiff in a civil lawsuit.
Assumption of the Risk
A legal defense to a negligence tort, whereby the plaintiff is considered to have voluntarily accepted a known risk of danger.
Strict Liability
The legal responsibility for damage or injury even if you are not negligent.
Toxic Torts
A lawsuit against a manufacturer of a toxic substance for harm caused by the manufacture or disposal of that substance.
Product Liability
The legal responsibility of manufacturers and sellers for injuries caused by defective products they produce or sell.
Statute of Limitations
A deadline for filing a lawsuit that requires a tort claim to be filed within either two or three years of when the injury was suffered.
Frivolous Lawsuits
Cases without merit, sometimes filed in an effort to force the defendant to offer a cash settlement rather than going to the expense of defending the lawsuit.
Tort Reform
The movement that focuses on changing the process of settling tort claims. It emphasizes methods other than going to court or establishes limitations on how much money the winning party may receive.