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Personal Injury Law Glossary

Trying to decipher an acronym? Attempting to understand legal jargon? The Personal Injury Law glossary gives you access to definitions for the Accidents and Injuries terminology commonly used in documents, discussions with legal professionals and court proceedings. This Personal Injury Law glossary will help you understand the legal terms and phrases which are relevant to Car Accidents, negligence, and other Personal Injury areas of law.

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  • Accident
    : an unexpected usually sudden event that occurs without intent or volition although sometimes through carelessness, unawareness, ignorance, or a combination of causes and that produces an ...
  • Accident Insurance
    : insurance against loss to the insured through accidental bodily injury
  • Average Daily Wage (Adw)
    The ADW is a calculation of an injured employee's average daily earnings and is sometimes used to determine entitlement to wage loss benefits following an injury, particularly where the AWW would not ...
  • Average Weekly Wage (Aww)
    The AWW is another method which may be utilized in calculating entitlement to wage loss benefits. The average earnings, by week, for a fixed period of time are calculated and wage loss benefits are ...
  • Causation
    1 a : the act or process of causing [proof of objective of injury by the perpetrator "Alan Freeman"] b : the act or agency that produces an effect [evidence was presented on doctor's ...
  • Disability
    pl: -ties 1 : inability to pursue an occupation because of a physical or mental impairment ;specif : inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity because of a medically determinable ...
  • Endangerment
    : the crime or tort of exposing others to possible harm or danger
  • Independent Medical Examination (Ime)
    In many situations, an employer and insurance company will want to have an injured employee seen by a particular physician in order to obtain on objective evaluation of the employee's health. An ...
  • Living Will
    : a document in which the signer indicates preferences or directions for the administration and esp. the withdrawal or withholding of life-sustaining medical treatment in the event of terminal ...
  • Medicaid
    often cap : a program of medical aid designed for those unable to afford regular medical care and financed by the state and federal governments
  • Negligence
    : failure to exercise the degree of care expected of a person of ordinary prudence in like circumstances in protecting others from a foreseeable and unreasonable risk of harm in a particular ...
  • No-Duty Doctrine
    : a doctrine in tort law: a defendant cannot be held liable for an injury if no duty is owed to the plaintiff ;specif : a doctrine holding that a person in possession of property is under no duty to ...
  • Pain And Suffering
    : mental or esp. physical distress for which one may seek damages in a tort action
  • Patients' Rights
    A general statement adopted by most healthcare providers, covering such matters as access to care, patient dignity, confidentiality and consent to treatment.
  • Permanent Partial Disability (Ppd)
    PPD benefits are payable, in most jurisdictions, to an employee who has sustained a permanent, but not complete, disability. Many state statutes have pre-set values for a host of different PPD ...
  • Permanent Total Disability (Ptd)
    PTD benefits are available if an injured employee is permanently and totally disabled from work.
  • Physical Therapy (Pt)
    Many injured employees are entitled to receive physical therapy as a form of medical treatment to recover from injuries. On forms, or in medical records, you may see a reference to "PT." That is short ...
  • Public Duty Doctrine
    : a doctrine in tort law: a government entity (as a state or municipality) cannot be held liable for the injuries of an individual resulting from a public officer's or employee's breach of a duty ...
  • Recover
    1 : to get back or get back an equivalent for [ costs through higher prices] 2 a : to obtain or get back (as damages, satisfaction for a debt, or property) through a judgment or decree [ damages in ...
  • Res Ipsa Loquitur
    also res ipsa lo·qui·tor [-lō-kwə-tər] n [Latin, the thing speaks for itself] : a doctrine or rule of evidence in tort law that permits an inference or presumption that a ...
  • Social Security Disability Benefits (Ssdi)
    SSDI benefits are payable to disabled individuals through the Social Security Administration. Many state workers' compensation statutes have specific provisions which dictate whether an injured ...
  • Statewide Average Weekly Wage (Saww)
    The statewide average weekly wage is a computation of average wages paid to workers in a jurisdiction for a set period of time and is generally used to calculate the minimum, and maximum, amounts of ...
  • Temporary Partial Disability (Tpd)
    TPD benefits are payable when an injured employee is able to work despite their injury. The benefits are available only for a limited period of time, in recognition of the fact that the employee will ...
  • Temporary Total Disability (Ttd)
    TTD benefits are available to employees whose injuries leave them totally unable to work for a period of time. The benefits are no longer payable when the "temporary" disability clears and the ...
  • Tort
    [Anglo-French, wrongful or illegal act, from Old French, injury, from Medieval Latin tortum, from Latin, neuter of tortus twisted, from past participle of torquēre to twist] : a wrongful act ...
  • Tort Reform
    : change or alteration of laws imposing civil liability for torts esp. to limit liability for punitive damages
  • Vocational Rehabilitation (Vr)
    Vocational rehabilitation generally includes a melting pot of services that are offered to injured employees to help them return to work following a work injury. VR may involve transferable skills ...