Personal Injury Lawyers – What Is Negligence?

Negligence is carelessness or harmful intent that leads to the harm of another person. It may be an action taken, such as carelessly knocking a hammer off the roof that hits another party in the head, or failing to act, such as when a property owner does not fix a hole in a stair step, causing someone to trip and fall. It can also be caused through the intentional act of someone that leads to an injury.

If someone’s negligence caused an injury to another person, that person may file a personal injury claim or lawsuit. It is not enough for the injured person to simply state that an injury has occurred. In order for a legal claim to be valid, these four things must be shown by the person filing the lawsuit:

The defendant owed the plaintiff a duty of care
The defendant failed to exercise that duty of care towards the plaintiff
The defendant’s breach of duty caused the plaintiff to be injured
The plaintiff suffered damages as a result

Can you win your case?

In order to win a personal injury claim or lawsuit, the plaintiff must show that the defendant was negligent and breached his duty of care. Basically, if it could be foreseen by a reasonable person that an injury may happen as a result of certain actions, the defendant has the duty of care to avoid those actions. An example would be if a reasonable person could see that throwing driving recklessly could lead to an accident, then the person driving in that manner has a duty of care not to perform those actions.

The plaintiff must show that his injuries were caused by the carelessness of another resulting from that specific accident, and not by a condition or injury that pre-existed prior to the accident. Additionally, the plaintiff must show that he or she has suffered damages as a result of the other party’s inaction or actions, such as medical bills and lost wages, because of not being able to work.

Many lawyers offer free case evaluations to help determine if the person that was harmed has a legitimate legal claim, and it whether it would make sense to file a personal injury claim or lawsuit to recover damages for their injuries.