The substitution of one person in the place of another with reference to a claim, so that he or she who is substituted succeeds to the rights of the other in relation to the claim. The law dealing with rights, duties and liabilities, as distinguished from the law regulating procedure. An order directing the sheriff or other officer to notify the named person that a lawsuit has been commenced against him or her in court and that he or she is required to appear by a certain time, and answer the complaint or suffer a judgment against him or her. Evidence given verbally by a witness, under oath, as distinguished from evidence derived from writings and other sources. A tort is negligent or wrongful conduct which causes bodily injury or property damage for which compensation can be recovered in a civil lawsuit.
Most torts are the result of negligence such as automobile accidents.
Some are intentional, such as libel, slander, assault and battery. In Oregon, the traditional doctrine of governmental immunity was ended in large part by legislation enacted in 1967. Under the new law, every public body, including every local government agency, is liable to third parties for wrongful deaths, personal injuries, and property damage that result from governmental operations involving negligent or wrongful conduct, subject to limitations on the amount that can be recovered. This law is commonly referred to as the Tort Claims Act. A new trial or retrial in an appellate court in which the whole case is gone into as if there had been no trial in a lower court and regardless of the findings and decisions of the lower court.