A victim of the bus Chicago bus crash that occurred when a CTA bus veered off Lake Shore Drive and collided into a tree recently filed a lawsuit claiming that the vehicle’s steering failed to appropriately function.
This is the first lawsuit filed resulting from the incident where several bus riders were injured.
The plaintiff is making a claim for an unspecified amount of damages.
source: http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/10/first-lawsuit-filed-by-passenger-in-cta-bus-crash.html
Most accidental injury lawsuits come within the larger classification known as Tort Law. Tort law includes situations concerning civil wrongdoing that may be redressed by awarding money damages.
Torts are generally civil wrongs recognized by law as reasons for a legal action. These wrongs lead to an injury or harm constituting the basis for a complaint by the injured party. Although many torts are also criminal infractions punishable with imprisonment, the main purpose of tort law is to give relief for the damages accrued and dissuade people from effectuating the same injuries. The injured individual might sue for an injunction to avoid the continuation of the tortious conduct or for monetary damages.
Amongst the varieties of damages the injured plaintiff may possibly receive are: loss of earnings capacity, pain and suffering, and reasonable medical expenditures. They can consist of both present and future expected losses.
There are many common torts including trespass, assault, battery, negligence, products liability, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Torts fall under three standard categories: intentional torts (e.g., intentionally hitting someone); negligent torts (e.g., causing an accident by failing to comply with traffic laws); and strict liability torts(e.g., liability for manufacturing and selling defective products). Intentional torts also include those failures which the party causing the injury knew or should have known would occur through their conduct or inactions. Negligent torts happen when the defendant’s actions were unreasonably risky. Strict liability wrongs do not depend on the amount of recklessness by the defendant, but are proven when a certain action causes harm.
There are also distinct parts of tort law which include nuisance, defamation, invasion of privacy, and a group of economic torts.
Tort law is defined by state law developed via judges (common law) and by legislatures (statutory law). Quite a few judges and states utilize the Restatement of Torts (2nd) as a crucial guideline. The Restatement is a guide published by the American Law Institute whose intention is to deliver an organized survey of the general law of the United States.