In the practice of law, particularly if you’re a generalist, there are numerous types of lawsuits you’ll likely encounter. An overview is particularly useful for law students.
Working hard to get your legal degree can sometimes seem overwhelming. Figuring out just what you need to understand is half the battle in the wealth of information that the legal field entails. To help you master the most important fields, we’re going to look at the most common types of lawsuits that you’ll experience throughout your legal career.
Car Accident Lawsuits
With over 34,000 US fatalities per year due to vehicle crashes, it’s no surprise that car accident lawsuits are very common to experience. Whether the accident is fatal or not, accidents tend to cause a great deal of expense to one or both parties involved. This holds especially true when injuries occur and medical expenses mount. Most auto accidents fall into a personal injury lawsuit as an individual has been injured due to another person’s or business’s neglect.
Wrongful Termination/Employment Discrimination
Depending on whether you want to work for individuals or for businesses, you’ll likely find yourself on one end of a wrongful termination lawsuit or employment discrimination lawsuit. The federal anti-discrimination laws protect workers from being discriminated against during their employment and being terminated for unlawful reasons. Many states also have their own laws regarding employment discrimination to help protect the workers within their state boundaries. You should be aware of the types of laws surrounding these particular lawsuits so you’ll be well equipped to handle them.
Slip and Fall Lawsuits
Due to the fact that slip and fall injuries can happen virtually anywhere, they remain a common type of lawsuit that all lawyers tend to deal with from time to time. People can be injured at work, in the mall, a parking lot, the grocery store, a friend’s house, or anywhere else. With this type of case, your job will be to prove that the person who owns the property was negligent. This means not warning people of potential hazards on their property or not fixing a problem they knew was dangerous to the public.
Worker’s Compensation
With 3.5 out of every 100 full-time workers getting injured on the job, worker’s compensation cases are something you really should get familiar with. There are many reasons why employees get injured. The most common are falls, slips, equipment injuries, repetitive action injuries, and exposure to toxic chemicals. Because workers are entitled to receive worker’s compensation benefits, your job is to help them receive the maximum level of compensation that the law allows for their specific case.
Dog Bite Lawsuits
We all know someone with a pet dog. Dogs are a very common pet and for this reason, many dog bite incidents occur each year. Many of them require medical treatment for the injured party. This can be a large expenditure in medical costs and lost wages, in some cases. Your job is to help the victim receive compensation for their pain and suffering. Dog bite laws are more constructed on the state level. This means that you’ll need to know the specific laws regarding dog bites in the state in which you plan on working or opening your own legal practice.
Drug Recall Lawsuits
The FDA recalls many drugs each year due to serious illness and other related medical problems that they cause. In many of these cases, there are sufferers who were diagnosed with serious medical conditions as a result of taking a specific medication. As a lawyer, you’ll be working with the client and medical professionals to seek compensation from many of the larger pharmaceutical companies.
There are many types of lawsuits that a lawyer will face throughout their career. Understanding the most common types of cases will help to ensure that you spend your time learning about the cases which you’ll experience most often. The above are the most common types of lawsuits that you’ll likely deal with in your future legal career.
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