Legal responsibility for causing harm or loss to someone else.

In a personal injury case:

• A person, business, or government entity can be liable.

• Liability might be clear (rear-end crash at a stop light) or disputed (intersection collision with conflicting stories).

What to know:

• Insurance policies generally pay on behalf of the person or business who is liable, up to the policy limits.

• Some states allow liability to be shared between multiple parties.