When it comes to a personal injury, your case may seem simple at first glance. However, some conditions need to be proven first before you can walk away with your settlement. You may have suffered harm as the result of someone else’s actions or inaction, but this in itself is not enough to succeed in your claim. To bring a valid personal injury claim, you have to prove that the other party was negligent and at fault. That’s why it’s a good idea to get legal advice as soon as you can after your accident.
When it comes to choosing the right lawyer for your personal injury claim, it’s helpful to know what services they offer. There are personal injury attorney that will offer a free evaluation of your case and will represent you on a ‘no win, no fee basis’, so it’s worth getting in touch and explaining your situation. This article will look at the conditions that need to be in place for negligence to be established.
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How to Prove Negligence
Negligence is when someone fails to conform to certain standards of conduct. For example, a person doesn’t take enough care to do something, or fails to do something which they should have, causing harm or loss to another.
Proving negligence in a personal injury claim can be a tricky matter. To successfully show the other party is responsible for compensating you for your injury you will have to prove the following four elements of negligence were present in your claim.
Duty of Care
This first element in deciding negligence is to ask whether or not the defendant had a legal duty to prevent or avoid causing you harm? Did they owe you a duty of care? For example, business owners have a duty of care towards their staff and the public, requiring them to take reasonable care to make sure their premises are safe. This might include regular inspections of their property for anything that could pose a threat to customers and fixing it within a reasonable timeframe.
Breach of Duty
A breach of duty happens when the defendant owed a duty of care to the victim and acted in such a way to have breached that duty. You have to prove that a reasonable person would have acted differently than the defendant did in that situation.
Causation
Can you show the defendant’s breach of duty directly caused your injury? You must be able to prove this and establish that your injury would not have happened had it not been for the defendant’s actions, or inaction. Importantly, the defendant must have foreseen their actions would result in an injury. For example, if the cause of your injury resulted from an unexpected act of nature then it would be unforeseeable, and not negligent.
Damages
The last element needed to prove negligence is to show that you suffered monetary loss for which you can be compensated. Damages can include medical expenses, emotional distress, or loss of income.
If you can successfully show these four elements were present in your claim, then you have a good chance of winning compensation for your injuries.
