Automobile accidents, the area in which the majority of personal injury actions arise, provide a good example of how the tort system works. When they breach that duty and your injury results, personal injury law says you can recoup your losses.
Negligence reaches far beyond claims stemming from car accidents.
It is the basis for liability in the majority of personal injury lawsuits, including medical malpractice. An important and growing area of tort law is strict liability, which holds designers and manufacturers strictly liable for injuries from defective products. In these cases, the injured person does not have to establish negligence of the manufacturer. Rather, you need to show that the product was designed or manufactured in a manner that made it unreasonably dangerous when used as intended. Strict liability standards also apply in other areas of personal injury, such as workplace accidents.