Have you ever wondered what a tort is? It is a commonly used term in the legal world that not many people truly understand. A tort is defined as a personal injury that was the cause of a civil mistake, not a criminal wrongdoing. Here is a brief explanation of what qualifies as a tort in Arizona.
Incidental torts are the most common torts. They typically encompass incidents where people cause accidents carelessly. The type of accidents that fall under this type of tort include slip and fall accidents and car accidents. Should a tort for a car accident reach a lawsuit, it is typically known as a negligence claim. A negligence claim is when the person who caused the accident owes care to the person who was injured in the accident, the person who owed the care failed to meet it and their actions or inactions caused harm to the victim.
Another type of tort is that of the intentional tort. An intentional tort occurs when someone purposely harms another person. This is also known as assault and battery. Hurting someone else is fairly easy to prove in a lawsuit or a court, even if it happened using an object instead of a hand or foot. Some of the more difficult intentional tort cases to prove involve defamation, intentionally causing emotional distress and invasion of privacy. Also considered intentional torts are fraud, theft and trespassing.
Confused by torts and how you can file a claim in Arizona? An experienced civil litigation attorney can explain torts more in depth and answer all of your questions about protecting your rights with such a claim.
Source: FindLaw, “Torts and Personal Injuries,” accessed July 28, 2017
