Bodily injury and personal injury are terms that are often conflated in insurance and legal disputes, but they refer to different types of harm. Bodily injury is physical harm to one’s body, while personal injury involves physical injury as well as other emotional harm or psychological damage.
Bodily injuries differ from personal injuries in that bodily injuries are limited to injuries to a person’s body. Personal injuries include all types of damage, emotional and psychological or mental, to a person and their body.
Recognizing the difference between bodily injury and personal injury can affect how the claims are filed, the applicable damages, and the type of compensation that a personal injury victim can pursue.
Type of Harm Covered
Bodily injury refers strictly to physical harm to one’s body caused by physical events, including negligence, accidents, assaults, etc. It includes injured persons as literal beings, including electrical shocks, broken bones, burns to the skin, bruises, cuts, torn muscles, and other types of visible or measurable harm to a person’s body.
In contrast, the term personal injury refers not only to physical harm from an event (incidents) but also to non-physical injuries, such as emotional distress, mental anguish, loss of privacy, and defamation.
Type of Damages Awarded
The types of licensed damages awarded in bodily injury cases are based primarily on tangible things. Tangible losses and damages or damages usually include medical bills, treatment costs, rehabilitation costs, lost wages due to an inability to work from an event, and physical pain and suffering.
In contrast, the types of damages awarded in personal injury cases can include the same types of damages as bodily injury cases, but can also include all types of non-physical losses, such as emotional suffering, psychological trauma, or defamation of character.
Because personal injury claims include injuries that are not easily seen, such as “pain and suffering,” (there may be limited opportunities to present eye witness testimony on intangible injuries. Often, if the physical injury has become worse as a result of the emotional injury) courts require other forms of evidence.
It may include witness statements, psychological evaluations, or diagnostic tests such as an MRI or CT scan to establish existence of the harm to the emotional or psychological state of the individual.
Insurance Coverage and Legal Consequences
Bodily injury coverage is standard with most automobile insurance policies or general liability policies, and applies to the physical harm done to another person, which may apply to both a driver and a passenger.
Personal injury coverage is included as part of a personal injury protection (PIP) policy (with some guidelines, also referred to as injury to “persons”) or may require specific endorsements from the insurer to cover non-tangible emotional losses or non-tangible psychological losses.
In terms of experience with consequences, the legal implications of these terms will affect the disposition of claims documents. Personal injury claims may require separate or different medical records, and separate letters of representation may be necessary in terms of liability.
Moreover, there are various time limits or statutes of limitation for pursuing personal injury claims, and there can be other legal standards for recovering damages in personal injury claims, in contrast to bodily injury claims.
Key Points
- Bodily injury involves only physical harm and personal injury includes physical and non-physical harm.
- Most insurance policies include bodily injury coverage, but personal injury coverage usually requires specific language.
- Bodily injury damages are related to medical costs and physical pain, while personal injury damages are related to emotional and reputational harm.
- Understanding the differences allows for proper and complete claim compliance and best legal strategy.