Wrongful Death Legal Glossary T

Terminal Illness: A medical condition which is expected to result in a person’s death within six (6) months; no recovery expected.

Tort: Any action or inaction that wrongs, damages, or injures another, and thus forms the basis of a civil lawsuit.

Trial: Many cases do not settle out of court. For whatever reason, the opposing sides just don’t see eye-to-eye on important issues of liability and/or damages. Typically, the case has already gone through the filing of a lawsuit, discovery, settlement demand stage, arbitration and/or mediation, and is now ready for the formal conclusion of the court process, which is a trial and a jury verdict. There is no stage in the entire process of resolving a personal injury claim in which an individual claimant or an inexperienced attorney will be more vulnerable than at trial. The attorney must be completely familiar with both the statewide rules and the rules of the local court that may apply to trial scheduling, jury selection, introduction of evidence, questioning of witnesses, requests for jury instructions, and so on.