Accidents, Injuries and Negligence
No matter how many precautions you take to prevent them, sometimes injuries just happen: someone slips on some stairs or trips over an extension cord. No one intended to cause the injuries, but doctors’ bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering still need to be addressed. Under the legal concept of negligence, a person who causes injuries can be held responsible even if he or she did not intend any harm.
But how do you prove cause? What if more than one person is responsible? These complicated legal issues usually require the help of a lawyer; legal advice can be vital in helping you determine the best path should you be untangling a negligence puzzle.
For negligence to be proven in Court, generally four things need to be established: duty, breach of duty, causation and damages. These concepts are best understood by looking at a common negligence claim – a minor car accident. Let’s say Jill is driving her car down the road when her cell phone rings. She picks up the phone and inadvertently swerves into another lane, striking another car. Jill did not intend to strike the other car. In this example, Jill had a duty to drive her car safely. When she reached for her phone and
swerved into the other lane, she breached that duty. Her actions in not paying attention to the road caused the harm, and that harm resulted in damages suffered by the other driver. If a legal case was filed by the other driver who could prove these four elements, Jill’s negligence would be established and she would be liable – that is, legally responsible for the harm she caused. If a driver fails to use reasonable care, and you
are hurt as a result, the driver has breached his or her duty and is legally responsible for those injuries. An injured person is entitled to reasonable compensation for past and future suffering and medical costs. Of course, negligence reaches far beyond claim stemming from car accidents. It is the basis of liability in most personal injury lawsuits, including slip-and-fall cases and acts of professional negligence, such as medical and legal malpractice. If you think you might have a valid claim for injuries suffered due in
part to someone else’s negligence, you will want to talk to your attorney as soon as possible to determine the best course of action. In many of these cases, there may be time limits on how long you have to file suit.
Your lawyer will help you identify any such concerns and help you start to collect the necessary documents and evidence.
Who’s at Fault?
Deciding who is at fault for an accident resulting from negligence isn’t always straightforward; what if Jon, who was texting on his phone and not watching where he was going, slips on an icy sidewalk and breaks his arm. Jon clearly had some role in his injuries, but may not be totally at fault. If the ice was there because someone else was careless in clearing the sidewalk, that person may also bear some responsibility.
How does a Court decide how to assign damages? The traditional way was a system of contributory negligence; in such a system, a plaintiff could not recover any damages if he or she contributed to his or her injuries. To avoid the all-or-nothing outcomes of contributory negligence, the vast majority of states have switched to a system of comparative negligence. Under this type of system, a jury compares the actions of
the parties and then allocates fault between them. A defendant is obligated to pay only the amount of damages caused by his or her own negligence. There are even some variations on comparative negligence systems; for example, in a pure system, a plaintiff can recover no matter how negligence he or she was.
However, in a modified or 50-percent system, a plaintiff must be either equal to or less than 50 percent at fault in order to recover. Your lawyer can help you identify which system is in place in your location.
