Legal Dictionary
Legal Dictionary
There are a plethora of legal terms involved in your case. Our legal dictionary helps define terms that can become confusing from A-Z.
Permanent Disability (PD)
Any lasting disability that results in a reduced earning capacity, or that will affect your overall health or quality of life, after maximum medical improvement has been reached.
Permanent disability rating (PDR)
A percentage estiment of the level an injury will limit the type of work you are able to do in the future. Your PDR is based on several factors including: your current medical condition and prognosis, date of injury, age when injured, occupation when injured, how much of the disability is caused by the job […]
Premises Liability
Businesses open to the public must act to protect all parties from unreasonably hazardous conditions and activities on their land. If they fail to do so, a plaintiff may bring a suit under the area of law known as premises liability.
Products Liability
Businesses who manufacturer, distribute, or sell unreasonably dangerous products may be liable for personal injury, property damage, and other harm caused by their products. Plaintiffs may be able to bring a claim under several theories of law including: breach of express warranty; breach of implied warranty; negligence; or strict liability.
Proximate Cause
A cause that is a reasonably foreseeable result. Insurance companies, judges or juries, may use several methods to determine whether an action was a proximate cause, including: consideration of whether the action was a direct and natural result; consideration of the chain of causation; and whether or not there were any unforeseeable intervening events.
Punitive Damages
Punitive Damages /ˈpjunətɪv ˈdæmɪdʒ/ A form of damages awarded to plaintifs that are intended to deter further misconduct by the defendant. Punitive damages are not strictly measured by the actual injury suffered by the plaintiff. See also: General damages.
Qualified Medical Evaluator (QME)
If you are NOT represented by an attorney, a qualified medical evaluator (QME) is the doctor both the insurance company assigns to conduct a medical evaluation to evaluate your injury for a claim. If you ARE represented by an attorney, you will likely be evaluated by an agreed medical evaluator. See also: agreed medical evaluator […]
Remittitur
A judge’s order reducing the amount of damages awarded in a case. Example: A mother of four illegally downloaded and shared 24 songs, a jury awarded record companies $1,920,000 ($80,000 per song). The trial court’s remittitur of damages reduced the amount owed to ($2,250 per song). [Capitol v. Smith]
