To recover financial compensation in your personal injury case, you must prove the other party was negligent. Negligence is a commonly used legal theory to hold another person responsible for the harm they caused. Negligence can involve an action, such as speeding, failing to stop at a stop sign, or texting while driving. But it can also arise from the failure to act, such as when a property owner fails to repair a dangerous condition on their property.
When someone’s actions or failure to act injures another person, the injured person may have a claim for negligence. To recover compensation after a personal injury, the injured person must establish four elements. Here is how to prove negligence in a personal injury case.
To succeed in a personal injury claim, the injured person, called the plaintiff, must prove all four elements of a negligence claim: duty, breach, causation, and damages. The plaintiff must prove every element by a preponderance of the evidence. This means it was slightly more likely than not that an event occurred the way the plaintiff claims.
The injured person must establish that the defendant owed them a duty of care. In most personal injury cases, duty is clear. A person owes another person a duty of care if it is reasonably foreseeable that their actions could cause harm. For example, in a medical malpractice case, a doctor or medical provider owes a patient a duty to use reasonable care. In a car accident claim, a driver owes other people on the road a duty of ordinary care not to create an unreasonable risk of harm. And in a premises liability lawsuit, a property owner owes a guest a duty of reasonable care to warn them and prevent an unreasonably dangerous condition from occurring on the property.
A breach occurs when the person who owes a duty fails to act with a degree of care that a reasonable person would use in the same or similar circumstances.
To prove liability, the injured person must prove that the defendant’s failure to act with reasonable care caused their injury. Put another way, if not for the defendant’s actions, the injury would not have occurred. The breach must be the proximate cause of the injuries, which means the defendant’s actions were sufficiently related to the plaintiff’s injuries so as to assign legal liability.
Finally, the plaintiff must prove damages. Damages are the amount of money that will fairly compensate the plaintiff for their injuries. In a personal injury claim, damages often include the cost of medical bills, lost income, property damage, pain and suffering, a decreased quality of life, and emotional pain and suffering.
If you were injured because someone else was negligent, you must gather the information necessary to prove all four elements of your claim.
To hold another person responsible for the harm they caused, you must gather evidence that satisfies the elements to prove negligence. The type of evidence you gather will differ based on the specific nature of your claim. It may include a police report, witness statements, photographs, and other information that shows the events happened the way you claim they did.
Your medical bills and records can be used to establish the nature and extent of the harm the defendant caused. Your medical bills also establish part of the monetary damages you are entitled to receive.
If you missed work or were unable to return to your job because of a personal injury, you can present evidence of your past and anticipated future lost wages caused by your injuries.
Having your doctor testify can establish the nature and extent of your injuries and prove that your injuries were caused by the defendant’s actions or failure to act. When a doctor is called to testify in a personal injury lawsuit, they often appear as an expert witness. Unlike a lay witness, an expert witness can express an opinion, to a reasonable degree of medical probability and certainty, about the cause of your injuries. This evidence can be used to prove that it was the defendant’s actions, and not something else, that caused your injuries.
Establishing the elements to prove negligence is not always straightforward. Michigan Injury Attorneys know how to prove negligence and will gather the information needed to hold the defendant responsible for the harm they caused. We will help you better understand what is needed to prove negligence and will assist you in obtaining the compensation you deserve. Our lawyers have years of experience representing injured victims. We will put your needs first and fight to protect your interests.
To learn more about how to prove negligence, contact us today to schedule a free consultation to discuss your case and how we can help.
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