Here, we use negligence in the context of personal injury cases. Negligence is used to “establish another person’s fault for the underlying accident”, as noted by David Goguen of All Law.
We’d like to further explain what negligence is in a personal injury case. An important term, to prove negligence, is “duty of care”, which is where one individual is responsible for avoiding the causing of harm to another. This is important for the first step in proving someone else’s negligence.
For this first step, you must establish the “duty of care” in the situation that resulted in the injury. The injured party must then show how the other party failed to meet this duty. Once establishing this, the last step is for the injured party to show that he or she received actual visible injuries caused by this breach of duty.
So what are some examples of “duty of care”? We list three types of cases:
- Slip & Fall: where some property/business owner has to legally keep the premises free from known hazards. This individual must discover and remedy any and all dangers within a reasonable amount of time.
- Medical Malpractice: where doctors or medical professionals must provide medical care, skill, and treatment the same way as any reasonably competent health care provider would under similar circumstances.
- Defective Product: where those that manufacture, distribute, or sell consumer products are legally required to produce and sell, to consumers, products free of any unreasonable or unexpected dangers.
Once establishing the duty of care, the injured party has to establish exactly how the responsible party violated this duty.
There are tons more layers to this area of the law, but these are some of the basics. Think you have a personal injury case? Lafayette Injury Attorney Taylor Fontenot will personally oversee and address all aspects of your personal injury claim. From the initial consultation through settlement, he will be with you through the entire process. Call today!
