The terms attorneys use, in plain English.

Personal injury law has its own vocabulary — much of it Latin, most of it from another century, almost none of it explained when an adjuster or attorney drops it into a sentence. Here are the terms you're most likely to run into, grouped by topic.

Liability and fault

Liability

Legal responsibility for an injury. In a personal injury case, establishing liability means proving that someone else was at fault and that their fault caused your harm.

Negligence

The most common basis for personal injury liability. To prove negligence, four elements must be shown: a duty of care owed to you, a breach of that duty, harm that resulted, and a direct causal link between the breach and the harm.

Duty of care

The obligation to act with reasonable caution toward others. Drivers owe a duty of care to other drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists. Property owners owe a duty of care to people lawfully on their premises. Doctors owe a duty of care to patients.

Breach

A failure to meet the duty of care — for example, running a red light, failing to fix a known hazard, or skipping a standard medical test.

Proximate cause

The legal requirement that the breach be a direct enough cause of the harm that it's fair to hold the defendant responsible. A drunk driver hitting a pedestrian is a proximate cause; a drunk driver who hits a tree, scaring a flock of birds that startles a horse two miles away, may not be.

Comparative negligence

A rule used in most states for splitting fault between parties. If you're found 20% at fault for an accident, your damages are reduced by 20%. Some states use pure comparative negligence (recovery is reduced no matter how high your fault); others use modified comparative negligence (recovery is barred if you're 50% or 51%+ at fault).

Contributory negligence

A much harsher rule used in a small number of jurisdictions (Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, and DC). If you're even 1% at fault, you recover nothing. This is one reason the same accident can be worth very different amounts depending on which state it happened in.

Strict liability

A theory in which the defendant is liable regardless of whether they were negligent. Common in product liability cases (a defective product injured you) and some animal-attack cases.

Damages

Damages

The money awarded to compensate for harm. Damages are the dollar number at the end of the case.

Compensatory damages

Money intended to make you whole — to put you, as much as money can, in the position you'd have been in if the injury hadn't happened. Split into economic and non-economic.

Economic damages

The portion of compensation tied to specific dollar amounts: medical bills, lost wages, lost earning capacity, property damage, and other out-of-pocket costs. Easy to document, hard to dispute.

Non-economic damages

Compensation for harms without a direct dollar value: physical pain, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, disfigurement, inconvenience. Often called "pain and suffering." Some states cap these damages at a fixed amount.

Punitive damages

Money awarded not to compensate the plaintiff but to punish the defendant for especially egregious conduct (drunk driving, willful misconduct, fraud) and to deter similar conduct by others. Rare in ordinary personal injury cases.

Loss of consortium

A claim brought by an injured person's spouse for the loss of companionship, affection, and intimacy resulting from the injury.

Future damages

Compensation for harms expected to continue after the case is resolved — ongoing medical treatment, future lost wages, long-term care. Often the largest portion of a serious-injury settlement.

Mitigation of damages

Your legal duty to take reasonable steps to limit your harm — get medical treatment, follow doctor's orders, return to work when you're able. Failure to mitigate gives the defense an argument to reduce damages.

The people involved

Plaintiff

The person who files the lawsuit. In a personal injury case, the injured party.

Defendant

The person or entity being sued. Often the at-fault driver, the property owner, the doctor, or the manufacturer.

Adjuster

The insurance company employee who investigates claims, evaluates damages, and negotiates settlements. They work for the insurance company, not for you, even if they're polite.

Counsel

Lawyer. "Plaintiff's counsel" means the plaintiff's attorney.

Tortfeasor

The legal term for the person whose wrongful conduct caused the injury — the at-fault party.

Procedure

Tort

A civil wrong — non-criminal conduct that causes harm and gives the victim a right to sue for damages. Personal injury law is a subset of tort law.

Statute of limitations

The deadline for filing a lawsuit. In most states, personal injury claims must be filed within 1 to 4 years of the accident. Miss the deadline and the case is barred no matter how strong the facts. Some claims (against government entities, for example) have much shorter windows — sometimes 60 to 180 days.

Complaint

The document that starts a lawsuit. Lays out the parties, the facts, the legal theories, and the relief requested.

Answer

The defendant's formal written response to a complaint, in which they admit, deny, or claim insufficient knowledge of each allegation, and raise any affirmative defenses.

Discovery

The pre-trial phase in which both sides exchange evidence and information. The main discovery tools are interrogatories, requests for production, requests for admission, and depositions.

Deposition

Sworn testimony given out of court, recorded by a court reporter and sometimes on video. The transcript can be used at trial. You will almost certainly be deposed if your case becomes a lawsuit.

Interrogatory

A written question, served as part of discovery, that the receiving party must answer in writing under oath.

Subpoena

A court order requiring someone to produce documents or appear to testify. Used to get records from non-parties — hospitals, employers, businesses with surveillance footage.

Summary judgment

A pre-trial ruling by the judge that one side wins as a matter of law because there's no genuine factual dispute on a key issue. Defense motions for summary judgment are common; they're an attempt to end the case without a trial.

Verdict

The jury's decision at the end of a trial.

Appeal

A request that a higher court review and overturn a lower court's decision. Appeals focus on legal errors — misapplied law, improper jury instructions, evidence wrongly admitted or excluded — not on whether the jury weighed the facts correctly.

Settlement and resolution

Settlement

A negotiated agreement to resolve the case without a trial. The plaintiff accepts a sum of money in exchange for releasing all claims against the defendant.

Demand letter

A formal letter from the plaintiff's attorney to the insurance company laying out the case and demanding a specific dollar amount in settlement. It opens the negotiation phase.

Release

The document you sign at settlement. It permanently ends your right to bring further claims against the defendant arising from the accident. Read it carefully; once signed, the case is over.

Mediation

A non-binding settlement conference run by a neutral mediator — usually a retired judge or experienced attorney — who shuttles between the parties to help them reach agreement. The mediator does not decide anything; they just help the parties get there.

Arbitration

A more formal alternative to a court trial. An arbitrator hears evidence and issues a decision. Arbitration can be binding (final, no appeal) or non-binding (advisory). Most personal injury cases go to court rather than arbitration unless an underlying contract requires it.

Structured settlement

A settlement paid out in installments over time rather than as a single lump sum. Common in cases involving minors, severe injuries, or large amounts.

Insurance and paperwork

Subrogation

The right of an insurance company that has paid your medical bills (your health insurer, for example) to be reimbursed out of any settlement or verdict you receive. Subrogation can take a meaningful bite out of a settlement; your attorney negotiates it down where possible.

Lien

A legal claim against your settlement to satisfy a debt — most often from medical providers or government health programs (Medicare, Medicaid). Liens must be resolved before settlement money is disbursed.

Personal Injury Protection (PIP)

A type of auto insurance coverage, mandatory in some states, that pays a portion of your medical bills and lost wages regardless of fault.

Uninsured / Underinsured Motorist coverage (UM / UIM)

Coverage on your own auto policy that pays you when the at-fault driver has no insurance (UM) or not enough insurance (UIM) to cover your damages. One of the most overlooked, most important parts of an auto policy.

Bad faith

An insurance company's unreasonable refusal to honor a valid claim or to negotiate in good faith. A bad-faith finding can expose the insurer to damages above the policy limits.

Independent Medical Examination (IME)

A medical examination, usually requested by the defense, performed by a doctor of the defendant's choosing. The doctor is paid by the defense and tends to write reports favorable to the defense; the word "independent" is misleading.

Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI)

The point at which doctors believe you have recovered as much as you're going to. Reaching MMI is the typical signal that your case can be valued and a demand letter sent.

Looking for more context? Start with how the legal process unfolds or, if you're early in your case, what to do in the first 48 hours.

Definitions are general and US-focused. Specific legal meaning varies by jurisdiction and by context. This is not legal advice.