Negligence and Personal Injury
Posted on 30. May, 2010 by lawyer in Accidents
There are essentially two kinds of torts that may come into play with personal injury. The first is intentional. The second and most common is negligence. Some cases of negligence are clear cut while others can become very complex.
Negligence means acting in a careless or thoughtless way; failing to take reasonable care; failure to act when it is determined a reasonable person would have done so. Simply reading those statements you can start to see various situations where this could sometimes be hard to show.
Winning a case of negligence involves four basic things that must be proved for a successful outcome.
- The defendant (person or company the lawsuit is being made against) owed the plaintiff (injured person) a duty of care.
Using a simple example: As a landlord you must keep stairs, roofs etc in a safe state. What is the tenant’s duty though to inform the landlord of anything they notice that is not safe?
- It must be proved that the defendant breached that duty, failing to exercise proper care.
Let us take a look at our landlord again. Suppose a broken light fitting falls on the tenant’s head causing injury. It is clearly the landlord’s responsibility to keep the light fittings in good repair but – what if the tenant had failed to tell him it was broken? If he had informed the landlord how long ago and what constitutes a reasonable period of time for repair? What if the tenant had broken the fitting himself?
- It must be proved that that breach of duty caused the injury.
Let’s say that it turns out that the broken light fitting fell while the tenant was swinging his child overhead playing airplanes, hit the light which then fell on his head. This lends a slightly different view to the light simply falling. What caused the injury, the light being in disrepair or the tenant’s child hitting it? Would the light have fallen anyway? If the light was in good repair would the child knocking it have caused a break and fall?
- It must be proved that the plaintiff suffered damages.
In our landlord and tenant example it is probably fairly clear that the tenant suffered injury. The extent of injury would make a difference as to any damages he might be awarded should the other 3 burdens of proof rule in his favor.
There are a number of cases where proving injury can be more complex. Being able to prove the time of injury can be important as well as the extent. This is why it is helpful to have witnesses, take photos and seek medical attention as soon as possible.
Often of course people find themselves, the plaintiff, opposing a large company. Many people are frightened by this and feel they have no chance of compensation. The same laws apply to companies as they do to individuals. The important thing is to consult a lawyer who can help you go through your case and decide if you have a reasonable chance of proving the four points. If you are in the Chicago area, Ken Allen Law can help.
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