Personal injury (tort) can be separated into three categories: negligence, strict torts (or absolute liability), and intentional torts.

The most common type of personal injury is negligence. Negligence is the failure to use reasonable care to avoid a foreseeable harm to a person, place or thing. An individual will be liable if his or her unreasonable act or failure to act causes an injury, even if the harm is unintentional. This type of personal injury claim involves injuries on the job, car accidents, and medical malpractice.

Strict or absolute liability means that the defendant is responsible for injuring another person regardless of negligence or intent. This means that the plaintiff in this personal injury situation only has to prove that a product is defective or unreasonably dangerous and that the defect caused the injury. This type of personal injury claim might apply to product liability and animal owner's liability.

An intentional tort is the malicious or intentional infliction of harm that results in injury. This type of personal injury would include assault, battery, wrongful death, and false imprisonment. Personal injury that is classified as an intentional tort is a criminal offenses and can result in both civil charges and criminal charges.