1. **Negligence**: Failure to exercise the care that a reasonably prudent person would exercise in similar circumstances.
2. **Liability**: Legal responsibility for one’s actions or omissions.
3. **Plaintiff**: The person who brings a lawsuit against another.
4. **Defendant**: The person or entity being sued or accused in a court of law.
5. **Damages**: Monetary compensation awarded to a plaintiff for losses suffered.
6. **Tort**: A civil wrong that causes harm or loss to another.
7. **Settlement**: An agreement reached between parties to resolve a lawsuit without going to trial.
8. **Compensation**: Payment awarded to someone as a recompense for loss, injury, or suffering.
9. **Statute of Limitations**: The time period within which a lawsuit must be filed.
10. **Contingency Fee**: A payment arrangement where a lawyer only gets paid if the client wins the case.
11. **Comparative Negligence**: A legal doctrine that reduces the plaintiff’s damages by the percentage of their own fault.
12. **Contributory Negligence**: A legal defense that claims the plaintiff’s own negligence played a role in causing their injuries.
13. **Strict Liability**: Legal responsibility for damages or injuries even if the person found strictly liable was not at fault or negligent.
14. **Product Liability**: Legal responsibility of manufacturers and sellers for injuries caused by defective products.
15. **Premises Liability**: Legal responsibility of property owners for injuries that occur on their property.
16. **Assumption of Risk**: A defense in personal injury cases where the plaintiff knowingly exposed themselves to danger.
17. **Duty of Care**: The legal obligation to avoid causing harm and to act with a standard of reasonable care.
18. **Breach of Duty**: Failure to meet the standard of care required by law.
19. **Causation**: The proving that the defendant’s actions caused the plaintiff’s injuries.
20. **Proximate Cause**: The primary cause of an injury, a direct link between the act and the injury.
21. **Economic Damages**: Compensation for monetary losses such as medical bills, lost wages, and property damage.
22. **Non-Economic Damages**: Compensation for non-monetary losses such as pain and suffering, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment of life.
23. **Punitive Damages**: Compensation awarded to punish the defendant for egregious conduct and to deter similar behavior.
24. **Medical Malpractice**: Professional negligence by a healthcare provider that results in injury to a patient.
25. **Wrongful Death**: A claim against a person who can be held liable for a death.
26. **Insurance Adjuster**: A person who investigates insurance claims to determine the extent of the insuring company’s liability.
27. **Release of Liability**: A document in which one party waives the right to make a claim against another party.
28. **Claimant**: A person making a claim for compensation or damages.
29. **Litigation**: The process of taking legal action in a court of law.
30. **Deposition**: Sworn out-of-court testimony used to gather information before a trial.
31. **Discovery**: Pre-trial procedure where each party can obtain evidence from the other party.
32. **Interrogatories**: Written questions that one party sends to the other to answer under oath.
33. **Mediation**: A form of alternative dispute resolution where a neutral third party helps the disputing parties to reach a settlement.
34. **Arbitration**: A method of resolving disputes outside the courts where an arbitrator makes a binding decision.
35. **Contingency Agreement**: A contract between a lawyer and a client where the lawyer is paid a percentage of the recovery amount.
36. **Expert Witness**: A person with specialized knowledge who testifies in court to help the jury understand complex issues.
37. **Pain and Suffering**: The physical and emotional distress caused by an injury.
38. **Loss of Consortium**: Compensation to a spouse or family member for the loss of companionship due to the injury or death of a loved one.
39. **Survival Action**: A lawsuit brought on behalf of a deceased person’s estate for damages suffered by the deceased prior to death.
40. **Occupational Injury**: Injury that occurs as a result of work-related activities.
41. **Workers’ Compensation**: A system of insurance that provides benefits to employees who suffer work-related injuries or illnesses.
42. **Third-Party Claim**: A claim made by an injured person against someone other than their employer in a workers’ compensation case.
43. **Informed Consent**: The process of getting permission before conducting a healthcare intervention on a person.
44. **Misrepresentation**: Providing false information with the intent to deceive or defraud.
45. **Gross Negligence**: Severe lack of care that shows reckless disregard for the safety or lives of others.
46. **Vicarious Liability**: Legal responsibility assigned to one person for the acts of another.
47. **Joint and Several Liability**: Legal principle that makes each defendant in a case responsible for the entire amount of damages.
48. **Appeal**: A request for a higher court to review a lower court’s decision.
49. **Duty to Mitigate**: The obligation of the injured party to take reasonable steps to minimize their damages.
50. **Personal Injury Protection (PIP)**: Insurance coverage that pays for medical expenses and lost wages regardless of fault in an accident.
