Negligence
Negligence is the basis of the claim in a personal injury case. It is necessary to prove in order to have a valid claim and most of the hard work in a personal injury case will go toward establishing that the defendant’s actions amounted to negligence.
So, what does negligence mean in an injury claim, and how do attorneys go about proving it? Here are some of the fundamental elements your attorney must prove to show a defendant was negligent.
The Legal Definition of Negligence Differs from the Everyday Definition
Some terms have specific legal definitions that are more technical than their typical dictionary definitions. “Negligence” is one such legal term.
The standard definition of the word negligence is “failure to take proper care in doing something.” That definition lines up with the way most people would use the word “negligence” in conversation.
If you think about some possible examples of negligence to fit that description, you’ll realize how broad the everyday definition of negligence is. You could call someone “negligent” if they got behind the wheel of a car while drunk and caused an accident. However, you could use the same definition to label someone “negligent” if they cut their finger while chopping vegetables or forgot to lock their door as they rushed out the house.
The everyday definition of negligence isn’t specific enough to be used in civil lawsuits. Courts use a similar but much more specific definition of negligence to decide whether a defendant in a personal injury case should be held responsible for injuries and losses. Our legal system defines negligence as “the failure to exercise the care toward others which a reasonable or prudent person would do in the same or similar circumstances.”
While that is similar to the standard dictionary definition of negligence, the second part of the legal definition is important. By checking the defendant’s behavior against how a reasonable person might behave in the same situation, it helps distinguish what is negligence against what is making a simple mistake.
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SCHEDULE YOUR CONSULTATIONFour Elements of Negligence
How do attorneys establish what a reasonable person would do in a situation and then compare a defendant’s behavior to prove a negligence claim?
To prove negligence in a personal injury case, an attorney must prove each of the following four elements of negligence.
1. Duty of Care
To prove negligence in a civil case, you must show that the defendant had a duty of care (also called standard of care, in some cases) toward the injured party.
A duty of care means an obligation to act with a certain degree of reasonable caution and good sense. This element is usually the simplest to prove since our laws already establish a duty of care in many situations.
Example: All drivers have a duty to exercise care toward others on the road, including other drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians. Every driver must obey traffic laws and drive in a way that’s not reckless or dangerous.
2. Breach of Duty
Once you’ve proven the defendant owed a legal duty of care, you must show that the defendant “breached” or violated that duty by failing to behave with reasonable care.
Example: A driver runs through a red light, which violates a duty to obey traffic laws and avoid putting others in danger.
If you can prove these first two elements of negligence, you’ve established liability and proven that the defendant is legally responsible for the consequences of their actions. Sometimes, the defendant even will admit they breached the duty of care and accept liability. But even when the defendant accepts liability, they and their attorney can still dispute the next two elements of negligence.
RELATED: What Should I Do After a Hit-and-Run Crash?
3. Causation
Once you prove the defendant violated their duty of care, you’ll need to show that their reckless actions led to the injuries or harm you’ve suffered. This connection between their actions and your injuries is called causation.
Not all types of causation are equal in the eyes of the law. The defendant’s negligent action can’t be a loosely related cause of your injuries. Instead, the relationship needs to be what courts call a “proximate cause,” which is a fairly direct cause that any reasonable person could have foreseen.
Example: A drunk driver crashes into your vehicle and injures you. That’s a direct or proximate cause. But if the drunk driver instead hits the curb and scares a cat, the cat runs into traffic, and a second driver swerves to avoid the cat and hits you, then you probably won’t have a valid personal injury claim against the drunk driver who hit the curb and scared the cat. Even though the drunk driver technically caused your injuries, the cause wasn’t direct.
To prove causation, your lawyer may need to hire additional expert witnesses, such as doctors who can testify that your injuries resulted from the defendant’s actions.
4. Damages
Once you prove that the defendant’s negligent actions caused your injuries, there’s one last step: you need to show that the defendant’s actions caused you real harm, and then translate that harm to an amount of compensation.
Your lawyer will need to show all the different types of harm you have suffered and translate each type of harm into dollar amounts. The total damages in your case should represent all the monetary losses, pain, and suffering you’ve experienced because of your injuries.
To prove damages, your lawyer will need to provide plenty of evidence, such as medical bills from your treatment, pay stubs to prove lost wages, and testimony from experts about how your injuries will affect your career and your ability to work.
Example: Your injuries from the accident have required medical attention and subsequent bills. However, future medical treatment is expected. Additionally, the accident has caused you to miss work and has led to chronic pain. All of these items could potentially be compensated.
Proving all four elements of negligence in court isn’t easy. The insurance company and their legal team will do everything they can to undermine your claim and raise defenses against your arguments. If the other side can create doubt about any one of the four critical elements of negligence, you could lose your case. That’s why you should work with an experienced personal injury lawyer when you’re trying to hold someone responsible for injuring you or someone you love.
RELATED: How Much Compensation Do You Get for a Brain Injury After a Car Accident?
Contributory Negligence vs. Comparative Negligence
So far, we’ve discussed negligence as if only one person can be at fault for an injury. In the real world, you might get into a crash that’s partially your fault and partially someone else’s fault.
For example, if you’re driving through a green light at an intersection and another driver turns left and hits you, then that driver is at fault. They should have yielded and had no right to make a turn while you were traveling through the intersection.
However, suppose you were going 10 miles per hour over the posted speed limit as you were traveling through the intersection. Even though you may not have been speeding a lot, your speed might have contributed to the crash. The other driver could have misjudged your speed and thought they had enough time to turn left.
Rather than finding the other driver fully at fault, a jury may consider them 80 percent at fault, and you 20 percent at fault.
How this split blame affects your right to compensation depends on where the accident occurred. Different states have different rules for how juries should assign compensation based on how much the plaintiff was at fault. All 50 states use one of two different rules: pure contributory negligence and comparative negligence.
North Carolina abides by pure contributory negligence.
RELATED: The North Carolina Statute of Limitations for Personal Injury, Explained
Comparative Negligence
If your injuries happen in a state that uses comparative negligence (also called comparative fault), then you still have a right to compensation even if you were partially at fault for causing your own injuries. However, you can only collect a percentage of the total damages that equals the percentage that the defendant was at fault.
There are two different versions of comparative negligence: pure comparative negligence and modified comparative negligence.
With pure comparative negligence, you can collect damages no matter how much you were at fault for causing your own injuries, as long as someone else was also partially responsible.
In states with modified comparative negligence, you can collect damages if you are less than 50 percent at fault (51 percent in some states). If you are found more than half responsible for causing the accident, you will not receive compensation.
Pure Contributory Negligence
Compared to comparative negligence, pure contributory negligence (also called pure contributory fault) is a harsh rule that can be unfair to victims.
In states that apply pure contributory negligence—such as North Carolina—you lose your right to compensation if you were in any way at fault for causing your injuries. This is true even if the other person was 99 percent at fault, and you were only 1 percent responsible.
RELATED: Why Contributory Negligence Matters for Your Personal Injury Case
Myers Law Firm: Fighting for Victims of Negligence North Carolina and Around Charlotte
If you or a loved one suffered serious injuries in Mecklenburg County because of someone else’s negligent behavior, contact Myers Law Firm. We’ll listen and explain your legal options at no cost to you.
To schedule your free initial consultation with an experienced personal injury attorney from our team, please complete our contact form or call us at 888-376-2889.
The content provided here is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice on any subject.
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