The Concept of Negligence May Seem Simple, But Don’t Derail Your Ability to Recover for Your Injuries

Negligence is the legal term that is used to describe the basis of most personal injury lawsuits, but many people do not have an understanding of what exactly the term means. If you have been the victim of another person or company’s negligence, your lawyer must be able to prove in court that this person or company failed to take proper care in doing something that ultimately caused you harm. There are four essential elements to any claim for negligence.

Duty: Your relationship to the Defendant will determine the duty of care that applies to your case. Drivers owe a duty of care to other drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians, business owners owe a duty of care to their customers and some potential customers, and product manufacturers owe a duty of care to people who use their products to not cause them harm.

Breach: The term for a failure to take proper care is called a “breach” of a duty. A breach can happen when a person or a company takes an action that breaches their duty, or fails to act when it is required. In some cases, this will be the event that caused your injury. However, in many cases, the breach that caused the accident may have occurred months or even years prior to your injury without you knowing.

Causation: In order to prove your case, your lawyer must prove that the Defendant’s breach caused your injuries. In some cases, causation is simple to determine. But, if you have been injured as the result of a drug or medical device, a dangerous product, a workplace accident, or other complex set of circumstances, your attorney will need to have the expertise and resources to thoroughly investigate your accident to determine the cause or causes. In many cases, there will be multiple causes of an accident that are not readily apparent, and multiple parties may be at fault.

Damages: Damages is the legal term for the injuries that you suffered as a result of someone else’s negligence. Damages include not only compensation for your physical injuries and medical bills, but may also include lost wages, lost earning capacity, pain and suffering, disfigurement, damage to your property, and other compensable harm.

Before you hire an attorney to represent you in any action for negligence, make sure that your attorney has the experience and expertise to properly represent you. If you feel that you have been the victim of negligence, it is important to take photographs, save receipts, and save documents related to your accident to help your attorney build your case. You also must ensure that your attorney has the expertise and experience to aggressively investigate your claim and pursue every element of your claim to the fullest extent.