Litigation Lawyers in Mentor On The Lake

In Mentor On The Lake, Ohio, a "tort" is any wrongful act, besides a breach of contract or a crime, that the judicial system can remedy.

When a tort is committed in Mentor On The Lake, Ohio, thereby giving the victim the legal right to sue the person who allegedly harmed them, the victim's right to sue is recognized as a "cause of action."

Mentor On The Lake, Ohio's laws recognize many different torts. Nonetheless, the civil litigation system only deals with a few of these dozens of torts with any frequency. While the most obscure torts are sometimes litigated, there are only a small amount that the ordinary person is likely to deal with (either as a plaintiff or defendant) at some point in their lives. They include fraud, negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and battery.

Types of Torts in Mentor On The Lake, Ohio

Negligence: This is by far the tort that is most commonly dealt with in the courts of Mentor On The Lake, Ohio. Put simply, negligence is a failure to exercise a reasonable amount of care, and causing harm to someone as a result. For instance, driving 30 miles per hour over the speed limit is obviously very careless. So, if you are driving that fast, and your speed causes you to get into an accident that harms someone else (either their body or their property), you have committed negligence, and will be obligated to compensate the victim for the harm that you caused. You should know, however, that this is just an apparent example, and there are a practically infinite number of situations in which a negligence lawsuit can arise.

Fraud: Unlike negligence, fraud is an intentional tort. Like negligence, courts in Mentor On The Lake, Ohio deal with it quite often. Put simply, fraud is a lie told for personal gain. It requires an affirmative misrepresentation, which the speaker knows to be false, intended to induce the victim to render some benefit to the speaker, which causes actual harm (such as financial loss) to the victim. It occurs most commonly when somebody is trying to sell something for more than it's worth, and lies about the nature or value of the product to the buyer. If the buyer relies on the seller's false statements of fact in making the decision to buy the product, the seller has committed fraud. In such a situation, the buyer is legally entitled to compensation for the harm suffered as a result of the fraud.

Battery: Battery is defined by the law of Mentor On The Lake, Ohio as any contact by one person, with the body of another, which is offensive or harmful. Any conduct that causes physical injury, pain, or emotional distress is battery. Also, you do not need to really touch a person with your own body to commit battery - simply directing harmful contact (say, by throwing a rock) toward another person is sufficient to create liability for battery. Battery can also arise from "offensive" contact, which is basically any physical contact that violates one's sense of personal dignity constitutes battery, and the victim could technically sue over it. Nonetheless, in most cases like that, the plaintiff hasn't sustained any real harm, and will only be able to recover nominal damages, which would be far, far less than the cost of filing a lawsuit.

Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress: This is a tort in Mentor On The Lake, Ohio that involves emotional distress, and does not need physical harm or financial loss. It is also known by the acronym IIED. IIED is committed when a person engages in outrageous conduct towards another, with the intent of causing emotional distress, and really causes the intended distress.

How Can A Mentor On The Lake, Ohio Tort Lawyer Help?

If someone has committed a tort against in you Mentor On The Lake, Ohio, you have a legal option to seek compensation. Additionally, if someone has sued you, alleging that you committed a tort, you have a right to mount a legal defense.

In either of those situations, you will almost definitely benefit from the counsel of a competent tort lawyer in Mentor On The Lake, Ohio. In addition to improving your chances of winning your case, should it go to trial, a seasoned lawyer will also make every effort to prevent the issue from going to trial in the first place, by attempting to negotiate a settlement with the other side that's acceptable to both parties.