If you’ve been injured in an accident and someone else was at fault, you may be able to recover compensation for your losses. In most cases, this involves proving that the other party was negligent. In a legal context, negligence means failing to act the way a reasonable person would under the same or similar circumstances.
To successfully prove negligence, you must establish four elements: duty of care, breach of duty, damages, and causation. In many cases, breach of duty will be the most contentious element between the parties.
The Elements of a Negligence Claim
To fully understand the breach of duty element, you need a basic understanding of all four elements of a negligence claim.
Duty of Care
A duty of care represents a legal obligation one owes to others. Generally, individuals are expected to act in a manner consistent with what a reasonably prudent person would do in the same circumstances. Some situations may demand a heightened duty of care.
Examples of duties of care include:
- The duty to follow safety laws and regulations.
- Medical professionals have a duty to comply with established medical standards.
- Lawyers have a duty to adhere to ethical rules in their jurisdiction.
- Drivers have a duty to operate vehicles with a reasonable amount of care and caution.
- Manufacturers have a duty to produce products free of unreasonable dangers.
- Property owners may have a duty to keep their property reasonably free of dangers and to warn visitors of known dangers.
While the general duty of care typically requires one to act reasonably, interpretations of what is reasonable may vary. In some cases, expert witnesses may be necessary to testify about the required duty of care.
Breach of Duty
A breach of duty occurs when the defendant’s conduct falls short of fulfilling the duty of care. This breach can happen through the defendant’s actions or failure to act. Examples of a breach of duty may include:
- Exceeding the speed limit while driving.
- Failing to post a warning sign about a dangerous animal on one’s property.
- Unreasonably delaying a patient’s surgery.
- Failing to clean up a spill in a store promptly, causing a customer to slip and fall.
The parties will often dispute what amounts to “reasonable” behavior in a given situation. However, if the defendant violated a statute or regulation, without a valid excuse, they are automatically considered to have breached their duty of case. This is known as negligence per se.
Damages
You must show that you suffered an injury or harm to succeed in proving a negligence claim. Damages refers to the losses or injuries suffered in an accident. The two main categories of damages in personal injury cases are economic damages and non-economic damages.
Economic damages relate to the financial impacts of an accident. These may include:
- Medical expenses
- Lost wages
- Diminished earning capacity
- Property damage
- Out-of-pocket expenses.
Non-economic damages relate to the emotional or otherwise intangible impacts of an accident. They may include:
- Pain and suffering
- Mental anguish
- Diminished quality of life
- Disability or disfigurement and their associated impacts.
Punitive damages are another type of damages that may be available in cases involving especially egregious behavior, such as drunk driving or other reckless behavior.
Causation
Finally, you must establish that the defendant’s breach of duty directly caused your injuries. You must demonstrate two types of causation: factual cause and legal (proximate) cause.
Factual cause means that your injuries wouldn’t have occurred without the defendant’s breach of duty. Legal, or proximate, cause means that your injuries were a foreseeable result of the defendant’s negligent actions.
Burden of Proof in a Negligence Claim
If your personal injury case proceeds to a trial, a jury will usually decide your case. You will have to prove each of these four elements to the jury by a “preponderance of the evidence.” This means your attorney must present evidence that convinces the jury (or factfinder) that it is more likely than not that the asserted fact is true.
For example, you may have to convince the jury that there is a 51% chance that the defendant acted unreasonably to prove that they breached their duty of care.
Contact an Experienced Encino Personal Injury Attorney About Your Case
If you were injured in an accident and you believe that another party was at fault, they may have breached their duty to you. Contact our experienced Encino personal injury attorneys at JUSTICENTER Personal Injury Lawyers to help you prove negligence and recover compensation for your injuries. Contact our office today at 833-852-3600 to schedule a free consultation.
