North Dakota Accidents Dictionary

Legal and insurance terms explained plainly

Why would a judge let the jury assume missing evidence would have hurt the side that lost or destroyed it? That is an adverse inference: a rule a court may use when someone had...

DICTIONARY 2026-03-30

asbestosis

Miss this word in a medical record or job-site history, and a serious lung disease can be mistaken for ordinary shortness of breath, aging, or a smoking-related problem until...

DICTIONARY 2026-03-23

authentication

Like checking a driver's license before handing over the keys, authentication is the step where you prove a piece of evidence is what you say it is. In a legal or insurance...

DICTIONARY 2026-03-28

best evidence rule

Do I really need the original document, photo, or recording to prove what it says? Usually, yes - that is the basic idea behind the best evidence rule. When a party wants to...

DICTIONARY 2026-03-30

biomonitoring

You just got a letter that says your blood or urine will be tested after a chemical spill at work, near a farm operation, or along a trucking route like US-85. Biomonitoring is...

DICTIONARY 2026-03-22

business records exception

You just got a letter that says the other side plans to use hospital billing records, work logs, or trucking company maintenance sheets without bringing in every person who...

DICTIONARY 2026-03-27

dangerous dog designation

Has a dog already been flagged by the city or county as a serious risk? A dangerous dog designation is an official label placed on a dog after aggressive behavior, a bite, or...

DICTIONARY 2026-04-02

demonstrative evidence

Not the same thing as the actual object involved in an event, demonstrative evidence is usually a visual or explanatory aid used to help a judge, jury, insurer, or opposing...

DICTIONARY 2026-03-28

dose-response relationship

What trips people up most is that more exposure does not always mean more harm in a straight, simple line. Sometimes small doses do little, larger doses cause obvious injury,...

DICTIONARY 2026-03-22

excited utterance

Picture someone blurting out, "That truck ran the light!" seconds after a crash, before anyone has had time to slow down, compare stories, or polish what happened. In law and...

DICTIONARY 2026-03-28

foundation

Like setting the base for a house before putting up the walls, evidence has to rest on basic supporting facts before anyone can rely on it. In legal and insurance settings,...

DICTIONARY 2026-03-30

Functional Capacity Evaluation

The key point is that a functional capacity evaluation is not the same thing as an impairment rating. A functional capacity evaluation, often called an FCE, measures what a...

DICTIONARY 2026-03-21

hearsay

People often mix up hearsay with a witness's own testimony. A witness's testimony is what that person directly saw, heard, or experienced. Hearsay is an out-of-court statement...

DICTIONARY 2026-03-31

hearsay exception

Can someone really repeat what another person said in court and have it count? Sometimes, yes. A hearsay exception is a rule that allows an out-of-court statement to be used as...

DICTIONARY 2026-03-24

homeowner's liability for dog bite

No, a homeowner is not automatically off the hook just because the dog belonged to a tenant, a relative, or someone "just visiting." That is the most common bad advice. What...

DICTIONARY 2026-04-01

leash law violation

Insurance adjusters and defense lawyers may use this phrase to shift blame after a dog attack or knockdown, suggesting the injured person is overreacting because the owner only...

DICTIONARY 2026-03-31

litigation hold

What should happen once a crash, injury, or other dispute looks headed toward a claim or lawsuit? A litigation hold is a formal step telling people and businesses to keep...

DICTIONARY 2026-03-26

Lone Pine order

Thirty days can be enough to lose your place in a mass tort, and this is not a ruling that decides who wins the case. A Lone Pine order is a judge's case-management order that...

DICTIONARY 2026-03-22

one-bite rule

You may see this phrase in an insurance letter, a claim denial, or a call where someone says the dog "never bit anyone before," as if that ends the case. Usually, they are...

DICTIONARY 2026-04-02

permissible exposure limit

A legal ceiling on how much of a hazardous substance a worker can be exposed to. "Permissible" means allowed by regulation, not safe for everyone. "Exposure" is the amount of a...

DICTIONARY 2026-03-23

prejudicial effect

People often mix this up with probative value, but they are not the same. Probative value is how much a piece of evidence actually helps prove a fact that matters. Prejudicial...

DICTIONARY 2026-03-23

present sense impression

You just got a letter that says a witness's statement may be admissible as a "present sense impression" even though the witness is not in court. That usually means the...

DICTIONARY 2026-03-25

preservation letter

You may see language like, "Please preserve all evidence related to this incident," in a letter from a lawyer, insurer, or injured person shortly after a crash or other serious...

DICTIONARY 2026-03-27

probative value

You'll usually see it in a lawyer's letter, an insurance denial, or a judge's ruling saying some photo, record, statement, or test result has "high probative value" or "low...

DICTIONARY 2026-03-30

quarantine period

It is not automatic proof that an animal is dangerous, and it is not a punishment for the owner. A quarantine period is a set span of time when an animal is kept under...

DICTIONARY 2026-04-03

relevance

Miss this early, and a case can get buried under papers, photos, and stories that feel meaningful but do not actually help prove what happened. Relevance is the basic rule that...

DICTIONARY 2026-03-25

scienter

What trips people up most is that this word is not about science. In law, it means knowledge - usually proof that a person knew a fact that matters. In injury cases involving...

DICTIONARY 2026-04-03

spoliation of evidence

Lose the photos, toss the damaged part, let surveillance footage auto-delete, and a strong injury claim can shrink fast. Bad advice often says, "If it wasn't intentional, it...

DICTIONARY 2026-03-26

strict liability dog bite

Many people assume a dog bite claim automatically succeeds any time a dog breaks the skin. Not quite. Strict liability for a dog bite means the injured person does not have to...

DICTIONARY 2026-03-31