Definition
of Tort
Definition
of Tort - A tort is a violation
of another person's rights or a civil wrong not arising out of
a contract or statute.
A second definition of tort may include
that this personal violation or wrong can be negligent or intentional
such as battery or defamation of character. Torts can also be
violations of personal property as well.
A tort, as defined, means that someone
was injured by someone else and can seek a legal remedy through
the court system.
Legally, torts are called civil wrongs as opposed to criminal
wrongs. Actions like battery, though, can be both a tort and a
crime and the defendant can face both civil and criminal penalties.
Torts may be committed with force or without force to the person
or to the property in possession.
For many years, it has been prohibited for family members to
sue one another for fear that this would lead to a breakdown of
the family. More recently, though, the states and the courts have
realized that if family members have committed torts against one
another that there is already a breakdown in the family. In some
states, it is legal to sue a spouse during the marriage, others
after separation and still others only if an intentional
tort is involved. It is best to check out the law in your
particular state on this matter.
Tort laws have been enacted to provide relief for the damages
incurred and deter others from committing the same injurious acts.
Under most tort laws, a person can sue for an injunction to stop
the continuation of an injurious act or for monetary damages.
Some of the monetary damages a person can sue for under tort law
include loss of earnings capacity, pain and suffering, and reasonable
medical expenses in the present and projected into the future
as well.
Some of the more specific torts include trespass, assault
& battery, negligence,
products liability, and intentional
infliction of emotional
distress. As defined, torts fall into three different categories:
intentional, negligent and liability (manufacturing and selling
defective products).
Tort law is created through the collaboration of judges and legislatures
and enacted into state law. Some states refer to Restatement of
Torts (both 2nd
and 3rd)
by the American Law Institute as an influential and orderly guides
to general U. S. law.
Tort reform has been on the political
agenda as of late. The current administration and congress views
tort reform as a major policy objective and in February 2005 won
a meaningful victory in allowing federal courts to hear class
action suits of over $5 million. In a contentious partisan battle,
though, the Senate has blocked a bill aimed at reducing the liability
of asbestos manufacturers and medical
malpractice reform legislation has also, for the moment, been
blocked.
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