Legal Question in Civil Litigation in District of Columbia

Re: Tort law

This is from the Law.com dictionary:

Tort

n. from French for "wrong," a civil wrong or wrongful act, whether intentional or accidental, from which injury occurs to another. Torts include all negligence cases as well as intentional wrongs which result in harm. Therefore tort law is one of the major areas of law (along with contract, real property and criminal law) and results in more civil litigation than any other category. Some intentional torts may also be crimes, such as assault, battery, wrongful death, fraud, conversion (a euphemism for theft) and trespass on property and form the basis for a lawsuit for damages by the injured party. Defamation, including intentionally telling harmful untruths about another-either by print or broadcast (libel) or orally (slander)-is a tort and used to be a crime as well.

Re: Tort law

Tort law refers to that area of the civil law concerning what are also known as "civil wrongs" committed by one person against another which cause damage or loss to that other person. They are usually classified as either negligent or deliberate(also willful). An auto accident would be an example

of what usually would be classified as a neligent tort whereas as, say, a tort involving assault and battery on another person or, perhaps, destruction of property, would likely be considered deliberate.

Each of the above-described torts would entitle the victim thereof to file a lawsuit against the defendant-perpetrator(s)(of the tort) and ask the court hearing the matter that damages be awarded in the form of a judgment for money damages against the person or persons named as defendants in the civil lawsuit.