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PERSONAL INJURY
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Personal Injury - How Much Money Should You Get?

A personal injury occurs when a person has suffered some form of injury, either physical or psychological, as the result of an accident.

The most common type of personal injury claims are road traffic accidents, accidents at work, tripping accidents, assault claims, accidents in the home, and holiday accidents. Indeed, there are a multitude of types of accident and the term personal injury also incorporates medical and dental accidents (which lead to numerous medical and dental negligence claims every year) and conditions which are often classified as industrial disease cases. Industrial disease type cases include asbestosis and mesothelioma, chest diseases (e.g. emphysema, pneumoconiosis, silicosis, chronic bronchitis, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and chronic obstructive airways disease), vibration white finger, occupational deafness, occupational stress, contact dermititus, and repetitive strain injury cases.

Where the accident was the fault of someone else, the injured party may be entitled to monetary compensation from the person whose negligent conduct caused the injury compensation. At least in the United States this system is controversial with critics calling for various forms of tort reform.

In England and Wales, under the limitation rules, where an individual is bringing a claim for compensation, court proceedings must be commenced within 3 years of the date of the accident, failing which the claimant will lose the right to bring their claim. However, if the injured party was under the age of 18 at the time of the accident, then they have up until the day prior to their 21st birthday to commence proceedings. Legal Aid for personal injury cases was largely abolished in the late 1990s and replaced with "no win, no fee" arrangements.

Legal issues

Various legal remedies may be available for personal injury (eg. under the law negligence) or some other type of injury (eg. see damages and restitution).

In the United States, the legal definition of malicious injury is any injury committed with malice, hatred or one committed spitefully or wantonly. Such an action must be willfully committed with the knowledge that it is liable to cause injury. Injury involving element of fraud, violence, wantonness, willfulness, or criminality. An injury that is intentional, wrongful and without just cause or excuse, even in the absence of hatred, spite or ill will.

Injury-feigning

Injuries may be feigned by a person or even non-human animal for various causes. Faking an injury may allow a person to receive compensation, or may result in a team being awarded a penalty in a game of football. Birds such as the killdeer are known to feign injury to lead a predator away from their nest. The predator gives chase, believing them to be easy prey, but the bird then flies away, hopefully having distracted the predator sufficiently to prevent it from finding its nest.