Unlike the United States, the principles governing Tort law in Mexico have remained schematic, archaic and uninteresting for legal practitioners. When an injury occurs, Mexicans rely on a non-confrontational arrangement, instead of the more litigious avenue so common in the U.S. Mexican culture dictates that the tortfeasor is to provide the necessary assistance to the victim, covering the resulting medical and hospital expenses, and all material deterioration suffered by the victim’s property, as well as any lost wages and any incapacities as calculated in the Federal Labor Act. The Mexican legal system does not allow punitive damages or compensation for pain and suffering. "Inexcusable Negligence" by the plaintiff bars recovery.

Under Mexican law, tortious acts are governed by two separate types of legislation: 1) the Civil Code; and 2) the Federal Labor Act (Ley Federal del Trabajo). There are three types of liability under the Civil Law of Mexico. Contractual liability is devoted to the legal nature of obligations created by contracts. "Objective liability" closely resembles the U.S. notion of strict liability. The legal notion of "created risk" is associated with "Extracontractual liability", under which many of Mexican personal injury cases fall. As the Civil Code is hardly equipped to solve the issues raised by extracontractual liability cases, the Mexican legislature chose to assimilate the cases to occupational injuries regulated under Title IX of the Federal Labor Act. This allows civil judges some amount of discretion in deciding cases. As a result, many personal injury cases generated in Mexico are being filed by Americans before U.S. courts, to be governed by U.S. law, rather than the applicable Mexican law in a Mexican court, especially when one considers that the economic compensation provided by Mexican law is so modest when compared to that allowed under U.S. law.