Proving The 4 Elements Of Negligence
Proving four distinct elements of negligence is critical to winning a personal injury lawsuit. These elements are the cornerstone of any case and they are what personal injury attorneys look for when meeting with new clients to assess whether or not to pursue a case.
The sooner you find an experienced lawyer, the better off you will be because the success of your case often relies on the ability to produce supportive documentation or photo evidence of the incident. By consulting with prospective attorneys now, you will learn more about what evidence you need to move confidently forward with the case.
Proving the four elements of negligence typically involves producing a variety of evidence, such as:
- Medical reports and documentation
- Eyewitness accounts
- Photo evidence from the scene or of the damage and injuries
- Testimony from expert witnesses
- Subpoenaed records that may indicate public/municipal parties knew about existing threats or potentially dangerous conditions
- And more
How To Win A Personal Injury Lawsuit: Prove Four Key Elements Of Negligence
The legal definition of negligence is (law.cornell.edu):
…the failure to behave with the level of care that a reasonable person would have exercised under the same circumstances. Either a person's actions or omissions of actions can be found negligent.
The four key elements of negligence are:
- Duty of care (or the existence of a legal duty/obligation from the defendant to the client).
- Breach of care.
- Damages (including physical or mental/emotional injury).
- Causation (that those damages or physical injuries were directly caused by the defendant’s breach of care).
When your legal team presents clear, inarguable evidence supporting each of these four elements of negligence, the other party is more likely to offer a settlement in your favor. If the case goes to trial, judges and juries are more likely to rule in a plaintiff’s favor when your lawyer can prove the four elements of negligence beyond reasonable doubt.
Let’s take a look at each one of them:
Duty of care
The first step is to establish whether or not the person, entity, company, etc., had a duty of care when it comes to your well-being - related to the incident or event.
Duty of care applies to everyone, regardless of whether you are driving a car or working as a medical specialist. As a licensed driver of a vehicle, individuals are beholden to traffic laws and other guidelines that keep us all safe. Any violations of these laws (speeding, driving under the influence, aggressive driving, etc.) are breaches of the duty of care.
Medical specialists have specific duties of care concerning their patients, which include their vows to do no harm. If it feels like a medical specialist’s decisions or actions violated medical laws, ethical codes, or other statutes, that may also be considered a violation of the duty of care.
Duty of care spans a wide range of responsibilities, such as:
- Keeping dogs on a leash or confined by fences
- Keeping current on all licenses and certifications
- Maintaining safe, public spaces (including walkways and grounds)
- Providing proper signage and detours if public roads, byways, public property, sidewalks, etc. are not safe
- Companies maintain their equipment, vehicles, and other tools to protect their employees from malfunctions
- Quality control procedures at production and manufacturing plants
- Taking care of any issues on your property that pose a threat or risk to someone else or a neighbor’s property
If a person or entity fails in their reasonable duty of care, they may be held partially or fully responsible for any resulting damages or injuries.
Breach of care
If there is an established or provable duty of care, the next step is to evaluate whether there was a breach of that duty. In some cases, there is obvious cause and effect - and then you have the grounds to file a personal injury claim.
For example, a large pothole that was not marked or preceded by signage and that has been there (or about which there are noted complaints in the past) causes a traffic accident. In that case, the municipality and/or other parties may be guilty of breaching their duty of care by not doing their part in creating a detour or ensuring adequate signage/warnings are in place.
If a neighbor’s dog is attached to people or has a history of aggression, and the neighbor allows the dog to be in their unfenced yard without a leash, that is considered a breach of care. In this situation, the neighbor would typically be held 100% responsible for an ensuing dog bite or attack.
Damages (or injury)
There also must be some type of documentable damages or injuries present. This may be a physical injury, time off work, psychological/emotional damage, future need for treatment, therapy, etc., or it might be damage to your home or personal property. The judge or jury needs to see that damages exist and there must be documentation to prove it. You cannot sue for a damaged fence or time off work from whiplash injuries if there is no documentation proving there is a broken fence or whiplash injuries.
If you slip and fall on a wet floor in your local chamber of commerce or a grocery store, but there are no injuries, there are no damages to sue for. If the wet floor did not have proper signage, you could let the store employees or managers know that you just slipped and fell because the floor was wet and there was no sign, but from a legal standpoint, there is nothing more that can be accomplished via a lawsuit.
If you slip and fall on a wet floor after it was cleaned and lacked proper “caution” signage, and it results in a broken leg, you may have the grounds to file a personal injury case. The extent of that case depends on how severe the damages are as well as numerous other factors related to the short and long-term effects of the event.
Causation
Finally, there must be a proven correlation between the damages/injuries and the negligence or breach of care on the defendant’s part. As we mentioned above, there must be proof that the damages or injuries are real, but we must also prove they occurred because of the defendant’s negligence.
In some cases, causation is straightforward. For example, if a driver is moving through traffic erratically, causing an accident that results in a person suffering a broken arm, a direct correlation between the accident and the resulting injury is easily established. But not all cases are straightforward. Workplace injury accidents or accidents in a public place may require more investigation to prove an employer or owner is negligent. That is where personal injury lawyers are your best ally. They know exactly what to look for and how to get the documentation and evidence necessary to prove this final element of negligence.
Burneikis Law Can Help Prove The 4 Elements Of Negligence In Your Case
Do you need help establishing a loophole-free personal injury lawsuit? Schedule a consultation with Burneikis Law. Monica Burneikis was recently featured in Plaintiff Magazine as one of the area’s best personal injury lawyers as a result of her due diligence and attention to detail when it comes to providing sound proof of the four elements of negligence, getting clients like you the results they deserve.
