Personal injury lawsuits, the most common type of civil suit, arise when an individual suffers an accident or incident of unintentional harm and decides to file a civil complaint against the party responsible. While work accidents and motor vehicle accidents are extremely prevalent in the U.S., so are cases of unintentional falls and unintentional poisoning. In 2020 alone, the CDC reported more than twice the number of U.S. deaths due to unintentional poisoning (87,404 deaths) than from motor vehicle traffic deaths (40,698 deaths).
Also, in 2020, the AFL-CIO reported more than 3.1 million work-related injuries and illnesses in the U.S., with an estimated 120,000 worker deaths from occupational diseases that year. These AFL-CIO studies estimate that approximately 340 workers died every day in 2020 due to hazardous working conditions. However, they also believe under-reporting is widespread, with likely 5.4 to 8.1 million work-related injuries and illnesses occurring annually.
While motor vehicle accidents are extremely prevalent among personal injury statistics, far more common are unintentional poisoning deaths as well as work-related incidents.
The AFL-CIO reported 3.2 million work-related injuries and illnesses in 2020, though they believe actual cases of such work-related injuries to be between 5.4 to 8.1 million.