If you have been injured due to the negligence of another person, you may be wondering how to go about filing a personal injury claim. In order to prove negligence, there are four elements that must be present: duty of care, breach of duty, causation, and damages. If you can prove all four of these elements, you will have a strong case for negligence.
Duty of Care
The first element of negligence is the duty of care. This means that the person who caused your injuries had a duty to act in a certain way in order to prevent those injuries from happening. For example, all drivers have a duty to drive safely and obey all traffic laws. If a driver breaks the law and causes an accident that injures you, they have breached their duty of care.
Breach of Duty
The second element of negligence is a breach of duty. This means that the person who caused your injuries did not act in the way that they should have. Going back to the example of a car accident, if the driver who hit you was speeding, they have breached their duty to drive safely.
Causation
The third element of negligence is causation. This means that the breach of duty must have directly caused your injuries. In other words, if the driver who hit you had been driving the speed limit, they would not have hit you, and you would not have been injured.
Damages
The fourth and final element of negligence is damages. This means that you must have suffered some sort of loss as a result of your injuries. This could be financial losses, such as medical bills or lost wages, or it could be non-financial losses, such as pain and suffering or loss of enjoyment of life.
If you have been injured due to the negligence of another person, you may be entitled to compensation for your losses. In order to prove negligence, there are four elements that must be present: duty of care, breach of duty, causation, and damages. If you can prove all four elements, you will have a strong case for negligence. Work with a personal injury lawyer to help you prove the above elements and give you a better chance of winning your case in court.
Author information: Emma Sturgis is a freelance writer based out of Boston, MA. She writes most often on health and education. When not writing, she enjoys reading and watching film noir. Say hi on Twitter @EmmaSturgis2.
