Understanding Negligence in a Personal Injury Case
As the plaintiff, it is important to understand the legal meaning of ‘negligence.’ To establish that you have been a victim of another person’s fault and the underlying accident caused Personal injury to you, understanding the legal concept can only get you a good compensation.
To prove the defendant’s fault, first you need to prove negligence. It’s when another person’s conduct goes below the accepted standard of care. Let’s explore this in detail here.
Elements of negligence
An important thing to remember is that there are four crucial elements to proving negligence:
- A duty of care – a responsibility that a person has to avoid creating harm to someone
- A breach of duty – showing how someone failed to meet the duty of care
- Proving damages – providing bills, financial or any other type of loss
- Proving causation – proving that losses are caused by a certain individual.
Types of negligence
- Gross – The victim has every right to sue the person who harmed him and to ask for compensation if that person is found to be negligent. Most of the medical injury cases fall under the gross negligence category.
- Comparative – This specific category applies to out of court settlements. The defendant’s lawyer can claim that the victim played a part in the injury to him. Therefore, he is able to negotiate compensation. It can be a much lower amount than usual.
- Contributory – In this, it matters how much the plaintiff is at fault and if he contributed to his injury or not. Claims are lowered by the amount of fault that the victim has.
- Vicarious – It’s applied when an injury case is filed against someone even if that injury is suffered because of someone else. That someone is usually a pet or a minor. In this case, the owner of a pet or a person responsible for a minor will be held liable.
How can you establish the fault?
Once you prove that the duty of care is violated, you need to establish how exactly did the defendant do that. Here are a few tips:
- If a police officer was at the scene, maybe you can find some significant facts in his report that could help you
- Find an eyewitness to testify
- The testimony of the defendant as to what happened could help you as well
- By examination of the damage.
The importance of understanding the term ‘negligence’
It’s crucial to know what to do and what are your rights when an injury happens, especially when you need to evaluate the impact of it. If you don’t have all of the elements checked, your case may be dismissed or come out as weak in the court of law. Therefore, you need to find a lawyer who is well versed in his job and knows the law in and out.
Personal injury cases can often cause physical damages and leave permanent scars, both mentally and physically. That’s why it’s important to build a strong case, to be familiar with every possible fact and to seek compensation for every loss that you have suffered. Call Jance Weberman at (213) 386-9100 when you need a Los Angeles accident attorney.