PERSONAL INJURY & WORKERS' COMPENSATION INFORMATION
INJURED BY NEGLIGENCE OR AT WORK?
THERE IS SOME DIFFERENCE IN THE WAY CLAIMS ARE HANDLED
The term "personal injury" refers to injuries suffered by an individual as a result of the negligence of another party. Lawyers and claim adjusters sometimes speak of "personal injury" cases as a category of claims. When used in this way, the phrase includes automobile accidents, products liability, medical or dental malpractice cases, premises liability and other claims where someone has been injured.
In the early 1900's, workers compensation cases were treated as "personal injury" cases, but by legislation in all 50 states, separate sets of laws now control how work-related injury claims are handled. In Kansas, worker compensation cases are dealt with by administrative law rather than in courts of law.
Personal injury and workers' compensation cases may all be negotiated and settled. Settlement may be reached at anytime the parties are willing to negotiate and compromise. There are a number of ways to aid negotiation and to reach early resolution, including arbitration, mediation and the more conventional approach of simply discussing the case with the party or representative on the other side.
If the case cannot be resolved, then personal injury cases must be decided in Court by judge or jury. If the personal injury case goes to trial, then witnesses are called and evidence is presented in a court of law, or, in the case of worker compensation, by an administrative law judge.
Because workers' compensation cases are controlled by a separate set of laws, they are decided by an Administrative Law Judge. Usually these type of cases are spaced over time with some court testimony, and, then submitted on the deposition testimony of expert medical witnesses and briefs.
The elements of proof are also different in a personal injury case than in a workers' compensation action. The issue of fault is of controlling importance in a personal injury case; but, in a workers' compensation case, the important liability issue is whether the worker was injured while in the scope of his or her employment. Monetary recovery is usually more limited in a worker compensation case than in a case decided in a "common law" court.
TORT EXAMPLES Here are some examples of types of personal injury cases:
- Operators of motor vehicles must use ordinary care while driving. If someone violates that duty and causes injury to another driver, then the negligent party is guilty of a tort. Of course, you can run a stop sign, and not be in an accident - in that case there is no tort, but you could be cited for running the stop sign.
- In medical malpractice cases, the injured party must show that the practitioner failed to use ordinary care. Generally, the standard of care which a reasonably careful doctor or dentist would have used in the treatment performed is proven by an "expert witness". This is because the law recognizes that in a technical area like medicine, only experts in the field know the standards which apply.
- Premises liability is an area of personal injury law which involves the obligations of an owner or occupier of property to visitors, guests or customers who are injured on the premises. The standard of care owed by the owner or occupier of premises is influenced by a variety of circumstances. Whether the owner or occupier knew about the hazard, what precautions ordinarily are taken, and, policies which were in effect by the business are possible factors which the courts find relevant in deciding the applicable standard of care.
