Many personal injury claims revolve around the idea of negligence. After all, if you’ve been injured in a car accident, the other driver likely did not hit your vehicle on purpose. They were never trying to injure you. They just made a mistake.
In general, there are four different elements that have to be shown when looking at negligence during an injury case. First, that the person who is accused of causing the injuries had a duty to the injured party. In the above example, all drivers have a duty to those around them to operate their vehicles safely and in line with the law.
Next, it needs to be shown that that duty was breached, such as when a driver runs a red light. The third element is causation, which is simply demonstrating that the other person’s negligence caused the car accident and the injuries. Finally, the fourth element is an account of the damages, which just refers to the financial costs, like medical bills or lost wages.
Many different actions can be negligent
One important thing to remember about negligence is that it is going to look very different from case to case. Someone who is texting and driving and strikes a pedestrian is negligent. So is a store owner who ignores obvious safety concerns, leading to a slip-and-fall accident. Even a homeowner may be negligent under the attractive nuisance doctrine if they have dangerous conditions on their property, such as a backyard pool that does not have a fence with a locking gate.
But from one case to the next, the four different elements of negligence can all be applied. If you have suffered injuries and you are working your way through this process, you need to know exactly what legal rights you have.