What Is Negligence and How Do You Prove It?

If you have been injured and someone else may be to blame, you may be considering a personal injury lawsuit. If so, you have probably heard that you must establish negligence to win your case. But what is negligence and how do you prove it?

The Legal Meaning of Negligence

In everyday conversation, negligence usually means carelessness, inattentiveness, or incompetence. When you’re talking in legal terms, the word has a specific meaning. Negligence means someone violated a duty of reasonable care, and you were harmed as a result of the violation.

In practical terms, negligence means different things in different contexts. If you were in a car crash, a negligent driver may have ignored a traffic law or failed to keep their attention on the road. If you were hurt when you slipped on a wet floor in a grocery store, the owner or manager may have been negligent if they didn’t notice the hazard and mop it up promptly.

A skilled personal injury attorney, like those at The Florida Firm, can review a situation and determine whether negligence was likely the cause. If so, the negligent party could be liable for your losses.

What Are the Legal Elements of Negligence?

Lawyers need evidence of four distinct elements to prove negligence. 

Duty

The person you’re suing must have owed you a duty. A driver has a duty to everyone on the road to drive safely, a doctor has a duty to offer an appropriate standard of care, and a store owner must keep their premises safe for customers.

Sometimes a defendant has an enhanced duty. For example, commercial drivers must use the utmost care, and people who care for children must be diligent in protecting them from harm.

Breach of Duty

You must be able to demonstrate that the person you’re suing breached their duty. Your attorney usually does this by showing the defendant did not use the same degree of caution as a reasonable person would have under the circumstances. 

Causation

The breach must be the direct cause of the injury you suffered. An attorney proves this by showing that the injury would not have occurred but for the defendant’s action or inaction.

Damages

You must have suffered actual harm because of the defendant’s breach. A possibility or increased likelihood of future harm is not enough. You must have evidence that the defendant’s conduct cost you something financially or physically, and the loss must be documentable and verifiable.

Work With Our Experienced Attorneys to Prove Negligence in Your Injury Case

Seasoned legal counsel is necessary to prove negligence in a personal injury case. People who work with lawyers typically end up with substantially more money than people who try to manage their own case, even after deducting legal fees. 

If you are in Central Florida, contact Colling Gilbert Wright for skilled representation in your negligence case. Call now for a free consultation.