Adam hits Bill in the jaw and causes personal injury. Does Bill had a claim against Adam? Of course he does. All the elements necessary for personal injury claim based on negligence must also be shown. Injury, a breach of duty, causation and proof of personal injury, or damages.

The other thing which must be shown is intent. It must be shown Adam intended to hurt Bill. Generally that can be shown simply by the conduct. That is generally well known and well accepted that when Adam hits somebody in the jaw he intends to do so.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN INTENTIAL INJURY CLAIMS AND NEGLIGENT PERSONAL INJURYCLAIMS

Intentional personal injury claims possess one big distinction between negligent personal injury claims. Insurance companies do not provide coverage for intentional injury claims. When Adam halled off and hit the Bill he was not covered by his homeowners coverage. His homeowners coverage specifically excludes coverage for intentionally inflicted personal injuries. The reason is simple, an insurance company will not agree to reimburse somebody for personal injuries they intentionally cause someone else. For this reason most personal injury lawyers will not bring personal injury claims which are intentional unless it can be shown there is some other form of collectability.

Another big distinction between intentional personal injury claims and negligent personal injury claims is criminal law also can apply to intentional personal injury claims. When Adam hit Bill in the jaw he committed two crimes. One was assault, he placed Bill in fear that he would suffer a personal injury when he began his punch. The second the crime he committed was battery. When he initially make contact with Bill he committed a battery. If Bill or someone else reported the case to the police and the district attorney agreed to bring charges bill would be subjected to two cases. The case brought in criminal law for assault and battery and a separate case brought in civil law for the personal injuries inflicted.

CRIMINAL LAW AND PERSONAL INJURY CLAIMS

Because the standard of proof is different in criminal law and civil law the case may produce in entirely different results. For those who remember the cases brought against O.J. Simpson those were textbook examples. The criminal case for murder did not result in a conviction of O.J. Simpson. The civil case for wrongful death did result in a monetary judgment against O.J. Simpson. This also highlights a difference between criminal law and civil law. In criminal law the penalties can be both a fine and jail time. In civil law no one’s going to go to jail. The only thing that can be found is the bad guy must pay for the personal injuries inflicted. Criminal law is about loss of liberty as well as the imposition of a possible fine. Civil law is only about money. Because civil law is only about money is oftentimes very difficult to find an attorney who will handle an intentional personal injury claim. The majority of attorneys who handle personal injury cases on a contingency fee basis. The contingency fee means the attorney will be paid only if successful in obtaining a monetary recovery for the client. In an intentional personal injury claim that it is very difficult to collect a monetary award. Since no money is obtained a contingency attorney who takes a percentage of what is obtained receives nothing.

I bring this and other videos to you so you can have a better understanding of how personal injury claims work in the real world. There’s much more to say and there many more topics to cover. My purpose in presenting these videos was just to give you an introduction so you can better understand what you should do if you suffer a personal injury claim. I’m David Allen with David Allen & Associates.