What Is a Tort? The Foundation of Personal Injury Law

James Wong — Founder & Pharmacist, LienScripts | March 19, 2024 | 7 min read

A tort is a civil wrong that causes harm, giving the injured person the right to sue for damages. Personal injury law is built on tort doctrine. Understanding what qualifies as a tort — and what doesn't — is the foundation for evaluating every PI claim.

This post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.

The Civil Wrong That Gives Rise to a Lawsuit

Most people encounter the legal system through tort law without knowing it. Car accidents, slip-and-falls, medical malpractice, dog bites, defective products, and wrongful death — these are all torts. A tort is a civil wrong, distinct from a crime, that causes harm to a person or their property, giving the injured party the legal right to sue the wrongdoer for compensation.

Tort law is the foundation of personal injury practice. Every PI case — whether involving a car crash, a pharmacist's error, a surgeon's negligence, or a manufacturer's defective product — begins with the question: was there a tort?

[!KEY] A tort is a civil wrong that gives the injured party the right to sue for compensation — every personal injury claim starts with proving a tort occurred and that it caused actual, compensable harm.

Torts vs. Crimes

The same conduct can be both a tort and a crime, but they are distinct legal categories:

A drunk driver who injures a pedestrian can be prosecuted criminally (DUI charges, vehicular assault) AND sued civilly for the tort of negligence. The criminal case does not compensate the victim — only the tort lawsuit does.

The Three Categories of Torts

1. Intentional Torts

An intentional tort is committed when a defendant deliberately acts in a way that causes harm. The defendant does not need to intend the specific harm — only to intend the act that causes it.

Common intentional torts in PI practice:

• Battery — harmful or offensive physical contact without consent (e.g., assault, elder abuse)
• Assault — placing someone in reasonable apprehension of imminent battery
• False imprisonment — unlawfully restraining someone's freedom of movement
• Intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED) — extreme and outrageous conduct causing severe emotional harm
• Trespass to person or property
• Fraud and deceit

Intentional torts can support claims for punitive damages — damages designed to punish the defendant beyond compensating the plaintiff — which are not available in ordinary negligence cases.

[!KEY] Intentional torts support punitive damages claims — a documented pharmacy record showing the injured patient's ongoing treatment burden provides concrete economic grounding for the compensatory damages figure that anchors any punitive damages multiplier argument.

2. Negligence

Negligence is the most common basis for personal injury claims. A negligent tort occurs when a defendant fails to exercise the care that a reasonable person would in the same circumstances, and that failure causes harm.

The four elements of negligence:

1. Duty — The defendant owed a legal duty of care to the plaintiff
2. Breach — The defendant breached that duty
3. Causation — The breach caused the plaintiff's harm
4. Damages — The plaintiff suffered actual, compensable harm

Car accidents, slip-and-falls, medical malpractice, and premises liability are all negligence-based torts. For a deeper dive on the causation element, see our post on what causation means in a personal injury case.

3. Strict Liability

Strict liability torts hold defendants responsible without proving fault or negligence. They apply to:

• Defective products (products liability)
• Abnormally dangerous activities (blasting, storage of hazardous materials)
• Dog bites under California Civil Code § 3342

See our full explanation in what is strict liability in personal injury.

Damages in Tort Cases

When a plaintiff proves a tort, they are entitled to tort damages — monetary compensation that aims to make the plaintiff "whole." California tort damages fall into two categories:

Special damages (economic losses):

• Medical bills and hospital costs
• Pharmacy costs and prescription medication expenses
• Lost wages and lost earning capacity
• Future medical care, including ongoing medications

General damages (non-economic losses):

• Pain and suffering
• Emotional distress
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Loss of consortium (for the plaintiff's spouse)

For a breakdown of how these categories work, see what are general vs. special damages.

[!TIP] For Attorneys: Prescription records documented through a pharmacy lien directly support the damages element of the tort — every fill is a dated, prescriber-verified economic loss tied to the defendant's conduct.

The Role of Pharmacy Records in Tort Cases

Tort damages in serious PI cases always include pharmaceutical costs as a component of special damages. When a plaintiff requires prescription medications to manage injuries caused by the defendant's tort, those pharmaceutical expenses are compensable.

An LSR (Lien Summary Report) from LienScripts documents the plaintiff's complete pharmacy treatment history and quantifies the total lien balance — providing an exact, verifiable figure for the pharmaceutical component of special damages. A MERIT report further establishes that each medication was medically necessary and injury-related, directly connecting the pharmaceutical costs to the tort.

This connection — between the defendant's tortious conduct and the plaintiff's pharmaceutical treatment needs — is part of what legal scholars call the "causation chain" that runs from breach to damages.

[!KEY] The LSR and MERIT report from LienScripts are the two documents that convert pharmaceutical costs from a bare number into a fully supported element of tort damages — the LSR provides the economic damages figure and the MERIT report establishes the causation chain connecting each prescription to the defendant's tort.

Tort Reform and Damages Caps

California has limited tort reform compared to other states. There is no general cap on economic damages in personal injury cases. The MICRA cap (Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act) limits non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases to $350,000 (effective January 2023, after AB 35 amended the prior $250,000 cap, with further scheduled increases).

For non-medical malpractice PI cases in California, non-economic damages are not capped — the jury awards what it finds appropriate.

Key Takeaway

A tort is a civil wrong that gives the injured party the right to sue for compensation. Personal injury law is a branch of tort law. The three main categories — intentional torts, negligence, and strict liability — each have different elements and different damage profiles. Every PI case starts with identifying what tort was committed, by whom, and what damages flowed from it. Pharmacy records and pharmaceutical costs are often a material component of the special damages in tort claims involving significant personal injury.