Every car crash claim, fall claim, and wrongful death claim is a tort claim. Here is what the word means, the three kinds of torts, and the North Carolina rules that decide how each one is handled.
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Also called: civil wrong, tortious act, personal injury claim
The word tort comes from a Latin root meaning twisted or wrong. In law it describes a wrong done by one person to another that the civil courts will remedy with money damages. A tort is not a crime, although the same act can be both: a drunk driver who injures someone commits the crime of impaired driving and the tort of negligence. A tort is also not a breach of contract. Contract law enforces promises; tort law enforces the duties everyone owes to everyone else simply by living in society, such as the duty to drive carefully and the duty not to strike another person.
Personal injury law is tort law. When someone says they have a claim against the driver who hit them, the store where they fell, or the company whose product failed, they are describing a tort claim. North Carolina shapes those claims with rules that differ in important ways from most states: a contributory negligence rule that bars recovery for any fault by the injured person, no strict liability for defective products, and specific statutes for dog attacks, workplace injuries, and wrongful death. Joshua E. Palmer, Attorney at Law concentrates in personal injury law and handles tort claims across North Carolina.
A tort is conduct that violates a duty imposed by law, as opposed to a duty created by agreement, and causes harm to another person. The injured person, called the plaintiff, sues the wrongdoer, called the tortfeasor or defendant, for compensation. The goal of tort law is to make the injured person whole by shifting the cost of the injury from the person who suffered it to the person who caused it. Tort law also deters careless and harmful conduct by making it expensive.
The remedy is money. Compensatory damages pay for medical bills, lost income, property damage, pain and suffering, and permanent impairment. In cases of egregious conduct, punitive damages may be added to punish the wrongdoer. Courts can also issue injunctions in some torts, ordering a defendant to stop doing something, but in personal injury cases the claim is for damages.
Torts are grouped by state of mind. Negligence covers careless conduct. Intentional torts cover conduct the defendant meant to do. Strict liability covers a narrow set of activities and situations where the defendant is responsible regardless of fault. Each has different elements, different defenses, and, in North Carolina, different statutes.
| Category | What the injured person proves | Examples | North Carolina notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Negligence | Duty, breach, proximate cause, damages | Car, truck, and motorcycle crashes; slip and falls; medical malpractice; most products cases | Contributory negligence bars the claim if the defendant proves it under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-139; three-year deadline under § 1-52(16) |
| Intentional torts | The defendant intended the act (not necessarily the harm) | Assault, battery, false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress | Contributory negligence is not a defense to an intentional tort; punitive damages available under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1D-15 for malice or willful conduct |
| Strict liability | The activity or condition, plus causation and damages; fault is not required | Dangerous dogs, abnormally dangerous activities | Owner of a dangerous dog is strictly liable under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 67-4.4; NO strict liability in products cases under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 99B-1.1 |
General framework. Some claims combine categories, and each has its own defenses, so confirm the theory that fits your facts with an attorney.
North Carolina tort law is mostly common law, developed by the courts, with statutes layered on top for specific situations. The most consequential is the contributory negligence rule. North Carolina is one of a handful of jurisdictions that still bars an injured person from recovering anything if their own negligence was a proximate cause of the injury. The defendant must plead and prove it under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-139, and there are exceptions such as last clear chance and the defendant’s gross negligence, but the rule shapes every negligence tort in the state.
Several statutes define or limit tort claims. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 99B-1.1 provides that there is no strict liability in tort in product liability actions, so a person injured by a defective product must prove negligence or breach of warranty. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 67-4.4, by contrast, makes the owner of a dangerous dog strictly liable for the injuries the dog inflicts. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 97-10.1 makes workers’ compensation the exclusive remedy against an employer for a workplace injury, while leaving tort claims against third parties intact. And N.C. Gen. Stat. § 28A-18-2 creates the wrongful death claim, brought by the personal representative when death is caused by the wrongful act, neglect, or default of another.
Deadlines are statutory as well. Most personal injury and property damage torts must be filed within three years under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-52(16), counted from when the harm became apparent. Wrongful death claims must be filed within two years of the death under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-53(4). Punitive damages, available in any tort involving fraud, malice, or willful or wanton conduct, are governed by N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1D-15 and must be proven by clear and convincing evidence.
A warehouse worker in Greenville is driving a company van on a delivery when a tractor-trailer changes lanes into him on the highway. He suffers a shoulder injury that requires surgery and has two separate claims from one event, under different bodies of law. Against his own employer he has a workers’ compensation claim, which pays medical treatment and partial wage replacement regardless of fault but, under § 97-10.1, replaces any tort claim against the employer. Against the truck driver and trucking company he has a negligence tort claim for his full damages, including pain and suffering, which workers’ compensation does not pay.
The tort claim is where North Carolina’s rules bite. The trucking company’s insurer will argue contributory negligence: that the van driver was speeding, drifted in his lane, or failed to keep a lookout. If the insurer proves any of that, and proves it was a proximate cause of the collision, the tort claim is barred. If the truck driver was grossly negligent, for example texting at high speed in heavy traffic, that defense falls away and punitive damages come into play. The workers’ compensation carrier, meanwhile, has a lien on any tort recovery for the benefits it paid. Coordinating the two claims is a large part of the work.
Because the category decides the rules. A negligence tort must clear the contributory negligence defense; an intentional tort does not. A products claim must prove negligence because North Carolina rejects strict liability; a dangerous-dog claim does not. A workplace injury may not be a tort claim against the employer at all. The same facts can support several theories, and choosing the right one, or pleading more than one, is often the difference between a recovery and a dismissal.
The category also decides the clock, the damages, and the defendant. Wrongful death runs on a two-year deadline and is brought by the estate; personal injury runs on three years and is brought by the injured person. Punitive damages are available only for willful, wanton, malicious, or fraudulent conduct. A claim against a government body follows its own procedures. If you were hurt in a North Carolina car accident or any other incident someone else caused, the first task is to identify every tort theory the facts support and the deadline attached to each.
A crime is a wrong against the public, prosecuted by the state and punished with fines or prison. A tort is a wrong against a person, pursued by that person and remedied with damages. The same act can be both, and the two cases proceed separately; a conviction is powerful evidence in the tort case, but an acquittal does not end it, because the tort case uses a lower standard of proof. A breach of contract is the violation of a promise the parties made to each other. Tort duties exist whether or not the parties ever met: a stranger who runs a red light owes you a tort duty, not a contractual one.
Managing Partner · Joshua E. Palmer, Attorney at Law
Attorney Palmer concentrates in personal injury law and trained in North Carolina law at North Carolina Central University School of Law in Durham. This glossary explains the terms he uses with clients every day, in plain English and with the North Carolina rule that applies.
Not sure which kind of claim you have, or whether you have one at all? Call for a free North Carolina case review and we will sort it out.
Responsible attorney: Joshua E. Palmer, Managing Partner · 106 Moran Dr #5106, Bonaire, GA 31005 · (478) 887-3734. Attorney advertising. This page is general legal information about North Carolina law, not legal advice for your situation; contacting the firm does not create an attorney-client relationship.
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