Article

"Vigilance" is the word of the day

September 2006

Authors:

When an accident occurs in the elevator industry, manufacturers and installing companies often incur sizable expenses. The injured party on the other hand suffers through both the physical and mental pain of injury as well as loss of income during recuperation. With the escalating costs that accrue from elevator-related incidents, vigilance has emerged an important word. Vigilance lies on conducting thorough and complete elevator inspection. The elevator industry must develop a standard of inspection that eliminates complacency and holds the inspector liable should an accident occurs.

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Chapter

19. Damages for death and personal injuries

July 2019

The law relating to damages for personal injuries is a large and complicated subject. Where a living claimant sues, the award will usually be for a lump sum to compensate for such matters as loss of future income, pain, suffering and loss of amenity. This once and for all payment has the advantage of finality and is preferred by many claimants, but there may be occasions where it is ... [Show full abstract] inappropriate. The chapter focuses on what damages are awarded for in tort law and how they are calculated, as well as some of the criticisms and problems that such calculations often raise. It discusses types of action for damages, calculation of loss of earnings and other losses and intangible losses.

Article

No-Fault Insurance: What, Why and Where?

May 1979 · The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science

Jeffrey O'Connell

Under the common-law "tort" or fault-finding system, after an accident between Smith and Jones, if Smith is an "innocent" party claiming loss against a "wrongdoer," he is paid not only for his economic loss, but for the monetary value of his pain and suffering. But it is often very difficult to establish not only who was at fault in an accident but the pecuniary value of pain. Under the no-fault ... [Show full abstract] solution, after an accident between Smith and Jones, each is paid for eco nomic losses by his own insurance company, regardless of any one's fault. As a corollary, each is required to surrender his claim based on fault against the other. No-fault insurance then, was designed to make the following improvements in auto accident compensation: (1) to assure that everyone injured in auto accidents is eligible for auto insurance payments, regard less of whether he was able to prove fault-based claims; (2) to spend less on smaller, relatively trivial claims, and more on serious injury; (3) to pay claims promptly; (4) to pay more efficiently by using less of the premium dollar on insurance overhead and legal fees; (5) to reduce, or at least to stabilize, the pertinent costs of auto insurance. In essence, no-fault auto insurance has succeeded in all these goals. Consideration is given to extending no-fault to all kinds of accidents.

Article

Pain and Suffering Awards for Consumer Product Accidents: Effects of Plaintiff-Defendant Liability a...

July 2000 · Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting

A study was carried out to explore the effects of two variables on the amount of pain and suffering awards in a product liability litigation context. The first variable was the level of liability/responsibility allocated to the plaintiff and defendant for the accident and injury. The two levels were 100% and 60% assigned to the defendant, with the corresponding levels for the plaintiff at 0% and ... [Show full abstract] 40%. The second variable was the severity of the injury which was characterized as high or low. The two variables were manipulated between participants, resulting in a 2 × 2 design. Four separate accident/injury scenarios were employed, and each participant was presented with all four scenarios in one of the conditions. The scenarios described an automobile accident resulting in paralysis, a workplace accident resulting in chemical burns, a workplace accident resulting in brain damage, and an automobile accident resulting in the death of a small child. Following the presentation of each scenario, participants were asked to make a pain and suffering award. There were no constraints, small or large, on the size of the awards. Results indicated significant differences in pain and suffering allocations for the two levels of liability/responsibility (means in dollars were: defendant 100% = 4.0 million, defendant 60% = 1.2 million). While the means were in the expected direction for the high and low injury severity manipulation (high = 3.2 million, low = 2.0 million) the difference in pain and suffering allocations was not significant. The results suggest that liability or fault may play an important role in pain and suffering awards, a finding of significance in understanding jury decisions.

Article

The Harm Principle and Global Ethics

July 2006 · Global Society

Andrew Linklater

Various international legal conventions create the obligation not to cause 'serious bodily or mental harm' to members of one's society or to other social groups. The existence of these obligations raises the question of whether widespread aversion to pain and suffering provides the best foundation for 'moral progress' in world politics. Support for a global version of the harm principle is ... [Show full abstract] evident in various liberal moral and political writings, but these are vulnerable to two lines of criticism. Some critics have argued that the concept of harm is more complex and elusive than liberals suggest; others that the liberal version of the harm principle is inadequate because it privileges the negative obligation to avoid injury over positive obligations of rescue. Having reviewed these debates, this paper argues for a global version of the harm principle which defends negative and related positive obligations.