How Does Strict Liability Influence Personal Injury Suits?

The concept of strict liability was developed by legal pioneers, such as Roger Traynor, to hold defendants fully culpable for torts of personal injury and make redress for plaintiffs simpler. In a strict liability case, the defendant is responsible for the event which caused injury to the plaintiff, notwithstanding so-called mitigating circumstances.

For example, let's say that a zookeeper holds a grizzly bear in the finest titanium steel cage available and posts guards all around the zoo to prevent the bear from escaping. As luck might have it, the bear manages to escape and mauls one of the zoo's visitors. Despite the fact that the zoo went to every length imaginable to contain the bear, the plaintiff can still hold the zoo (or zookeeper) liable for damages due to strict liability.

In most cases, strict liability torts apply in situations that are so-called inherently dangerous. Construction demolition blasts, wild animal handling, toy manufacturing, and other activities of that nature can all lead to accidents that could generate strict liability lawsuits.

Your personal injury attorney should be able to explain better to you whether your lawsuit involves strict liability. In some grey area cases, a company may be able to get out of paying full damages by proving absence of culpability. However, the law is set up in such a way to demarcate strict liabilities cleanly, so reassurances of good faith and demonstrations of appropriate precautions may not matter.

In some cases -- particularly in law practiced in the United Kingdom -- a defendant in a strict liability case may be able to wiggle out of having to pay damages by demonstrating that the damage to the plaintiff was not foreseeable given the nature of the danger.

For instance, let's say that a demolition blast shoots a piece of shrapnel well beyond the area of containment -- a statistically improbable situation -- and that shrapnel ends up injuring a person several blocks away. The construction company may be able to claim that the accident was unforeseeable and thus be able to get out of or at least reduce paying remuneration to the plaintiff. Try to locate a personal injury attorney in your area who has trial experience with strict liability.