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A “tort” may generally be defined as an act deemed wrongful enough that one who suffers injury from it may bring a lawsuit to recover damages. Many torts have their origin in “common law,” which is the body of legal, historical principles and results from actual court cases, often historically developed in England and adopted by U.S. states. Invasion of Privacy Alth…

Crimes are wrongful acts against society for which punishment may be imposed. Where an individual is injured through the wrongful action (“tort”) of another, the law may also give the injured party the right to file a civil lawsuit to recover damages. The same wrongdoing may constitute both a crime and a tort, and subject the wrongdoer to both criminal and civil liability. What …

Relatively recently, courts have begun awarding damages in certain cases for “loss of enjoyment of life,” also called “hedonic damages,” named for the ancient Greek school of philosophy called “Hedonists” who believed that life should focus on the pursuit of pleasure. The concept of a person being compensated for “loss of enjoyment of life” re…

In general, people are not liable for the actions of others. There are, however, exceptions to this rule. One long-standing exception is the doctrine of “respondeat superior,” a Latin term meaning “let the master answer.” Historically, the doctrine allowed recovery from a master/employer for injuries caused by a servant/employee. One rationale was that the employer o…

Although the public tends to trust the integrity of a product and the company that produces it, not all products are made safely and injury can result from products that are improperly designed, manufactured or distributed. In order to recover damages for injuries sustained as a result of faulty consumer products, the victim must prove that the product was defective or unreasonably dangero…