NEGLIGENCE IN CAR ACCIDENTS AND PERSONAL INJURY ACCIDENTS
Negligence is a type of tort that is used to achieve compensation for injuries. It is generally defined as conduct that a reasonable person would not do to protect other individuals from foreseeable risks of harm. If the injured individual proves that the person acted negligently, he or she can recover damages to compensate. There are generally four elements to prove in a negligence lawsuit. The four elements are: duty, breach, causation, and damages.
Negligence: DUTY
In order to establish duty, the general guidelines are the harm caused must be reasonable, foreseeable and there must be a relationship of proximity between the plaintiff and the defendant. Also, the harm has to be fair and reasonable to impose liability.
Negligence: BREACH
The test for breach is both subjective and objective. In the case where the defendant knowingly exposed the plaintiff to a substantial risk of harm, the defendant has breached his/her duty. Also, in the case where any reasonable prudent person would have clearly realized the foreseeable harm, there has been a breach of duty.
Negligence: CAUSATION
In order to satisfy the causation prong, the lawsuit must show that the particular acts or omissions by the defendant were the cause of the harm. The general test for this element is to ask whether the injury would have occurred without any breach of duty.
Negligence: DAMAGE
In order to recover compensation from a negligence lawsuit, there has to be some kind of damage. As a general rule, the plaintiff has to have received some sort of injury in order to recover damages.
Have you or a loved one been exposed to a negligence claim in California? If you have, please call us now at the law office of Rudman Law Firm, PLC at 1-800-252-9776 (1-800-ALAWPRO) and get your free consultation from one of our experienced attorneys. We have more than 50 years of legal experience and have collected more than $150 million for clients. Please visit our website at www.alawpro.com for more information. Help is just a phone call away.
