Every year millions of people are injured in motor vehicle accidents — many very seriously. In fact, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, someone in the United States is killed in a car accident every 16 minutes. In 2010, there were an estimated 5,419,000 vehicles involved in police-reported traffic crashes, in which 32,885 people were killed and another 2.25 million people were injured.
Personal injury law covers a broad spectrum of issues when one has been physically or emotionally injured, and/or personal property has been damaged. The law is concerned with determining who may be responsible (“liable”) for causing injury and how much the responsible party should be required to pay for any damages resulting from the injury.
The law of product liability deals with the liability of the manufacturer, wholesaler or retailer of a product for injuries resulting from that product. This includes the manufacturer of component parts, an assembling manufacturer, and any other party in the distributive chain.
An estimated 4.5 million persons in the United States are bitten by dogs each year. Of these, roughly 800,000 persons sought medical care for the bite. Almost half of those seeking medical care were children under the age of 12.