Personal injury or tort law is intended to compensate you if someone's carelessness, recklessness or intentional misconduct injures or damages you or your personal belongings. For example, if someone hits the back of your car while you are stopped at a red light, that person commits a tort. Negligence is defined as the failure to use reasonable care to avoid a foreseeable harm to a person, place or thing. An individual will be liable if his or her unreasonable act or failure to act causes an injury, even if the harm is unintentional. For example, if a person involved in an emotional dispute with you purposely hits you with the intent to hurt you physically, the person must compensate you for your injuries.
Many intentional torts are also criminal offenses.
For example, an assault can result in both civil charges and criminal charges. Strict or absolute liability means that the defendant is responsible for injuring another person regardless of negligence or intent. Some instances in which the law might apply strict liability are with regard to product liability, abnormally dangerous or ultra-hazardous activities and animal owner's liability. For example, a plaintiff may be entitled to compensation after a defective product injures him or her regardless of whether the manufacturer was actually negligent. In other words, the plaintiff only has to prove that a product is defective or unreasonably dangerous and that the defect caused the injury.