The 4 Elements Of A Personal Injury Negligence Claim

Pomona residents face all kinds of physical dangers every single day they go outside their homes. Some of those dangers relate to themselves and their own actions, but other dangers are the result of another party’s negligence, which more specifically refers to the other party’s failure to take reasonable action to prevent harm to others.

Following a serious injury caused by another party’s negligence, injured plaintiffs will have the ability to seek financial restitution by filing a personal injury negligence claim in civil court. In order to prevail on the negligence, the plaintiff will need to establish that the following four elements were present:

— Duty: The plaintiff will need to show that the defendant owed him or her a legal duty. For example, that legal duty might relate to a motorist’s legal duty to take reasonable action to keep his or her vehicle in safely working order so as to prevent accidents and harm to others.

— Breach: The plaintiff will need to show that the defendant breached his or her legal duty by either acting or failing to act in a specific way. For example, perhaps the defendant failed to fulfill his or her duty to keep the brakes in working order on his or her vehicle and thereby endangered the lives of his or her passengers and others on the road.

— Causation: This relates to the notion that the defendant’s actions and/or failures relating to the breach of duty directly resulted in the plaintiff’s injuries. For example, let’s say a defendant breached his or her duty to keep others safe by driving drunk, but the defendant’s drunkenness didn’t cause the accident that injured the plaintiff. Rather, the accident happened because the plaintiff ran a red light. In this situation, there is no causation.

— Damages: Finally, once the above three elements are established, the plaintiff must prove that he or she suffered damages. Those damages might relate to the costs of medical care, lost wages while unable to work and more.

Do you feel that your potential personal injury negligence claim satisfies the above-referenced elements? Even if you don’t think it does, the personal injury lawyers at the Law Offices of Christian J. Amendt may be able to take a different way of viewing your case to determine if a negligence claim might be pursuable on your behalf.