Categories of Tort

By: ethanrehman | Posted: 04th October 2011

People who had been damaged by the misconduct of others are entitled to a tort claim. Every citizen has a civil duty to perform while interacting with others in a common society. Breach of this duty is called tort in common law. All forms of government pay much attention to tort issues as they arise usually in almost all states. Tort law or personal injury law keeps the citizens from abusing their civil duty and others from being affected.

Tort can be categorized into six different grounds. Negligence, which is traditionally the focus of personal injury law, represents the biggest category. It involves a person’s unintentional failure to perform his or her duty resulting to the injury of others. The injury can be classed as physical or property. Most law suits cover both physical and property damages, especially in road accidents. Plaintiff in this case owes a duty of care from the defendant.

Statutory torts are a category of issues that are not covered by the laws created and interpreted by courts but by the legislature such as damage caused wrongful manufacturing of product. In most states like Utah, this is usually called strict liabilities in which plaintiffs are entitled compensation from the manufacturer after being proved by court.

Another form or category of tort is nuisance. It refers to the harm or annoyance caused by the mismanagement of others activities such as business practices. Utah personal injury lawyers class nuisance into annoying activities from a man-made structure, annoying activities from humans, themselves, and combination of both. Examples of these are loud noises and objectionable smell from a business place or house.

Slander and libel are damages categorized as defamation torts. These are personal injuries tarnishing the reputation of people. Utah personal injury lawyers differentiate slander from libel in that slander is a spoken defamation, while libel is a printed one. Many cases have been won by plaintiffs in this category of tort. However, amendments in the Constitution led to the inclusion of the rights to free speech in the considerations of such cases.

Another category of torts protect the business sector from external interference with their business and trade. Sometimes, this tort is supported by intentional tort, another category that describes damages caused by assault or deliberate motive from one party. Utah personal injury lawyers bring the case to court for negligent misstatement resulting to pure economic loss.
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Tags: plaintiff, law suits, annoyance, personal injury lawyers, personal injury law, property damages, defamation, mismanagement, plaintiffs, road accidents, personal injuries, loud noises, duty of care, tort law, business place