Tag Archive for 'personal injury law'

In general, negligence is carelessness that causes injuries to another person. It might be an activity, like thoughtlessly knocking a rock off a rooftop, or a failure to act, like a landlord who doesn’t repair a broken or cracked step. Negligent conduct generally forms the justification for personal injury lawsuits.

In order to file a legal claim for negligent conduct, the injured party (the person filing the legal action) has to prove four points: That the accused (the person or entity being sued) owed the plaintiff a duty of reasonable care; that the negligent party failed to use due care towards the injury victim (i.e. breached the duty); that the defendant’s breach of duty caused the plaintiff’s an injury; and that the injury victim suffered damages as a final result.

Duty of due care: The injured party must show that the defendant had a duty of due care toward the injured party. A person has a duty to avoid causing injury to another if a reasonable man or woman in the same scenario could foresee that an behavior (or failure to behave) may result in harm. Some circumstances are very clear. We all know that an individual could be injured if we run a red light, so we have a duty of care to follow traffic regulations and signals. Other instances are more difficult. If a property owner has a private swimming pool in a fenced yard, does he have a duty to prevent a neighbor child from climbing the fence and accidentally drowning in the pool? How much care would a reasonable man or woman take in that scenario? In each circumstance, the conditions relating to the injury play an important role in figuring out whether or not a defendant had a duty of care towards the plaintiff.

Breach of Duty: The plaintiff will need to show that the negligent parties failed to carry out their duty of reasonable care. For example, an average individual could foresee that a truck full of explosives could blow up, so somebody who parks such a vehicle in a packed parking lot has breached the duty of due care to the other men and women nearby. If the vehicle ignites, the driver could be guilty of negligence. Somebody could also foresee that a car that isn’t repaired correctly may malfunction, so if the brakes on a poorly maintained car fail and the car hits a kid, the owner of the car could have breached the duty of due care to that child. Each and every car owner has a duty to maintain the car in a reasonably safe condition. Alternatively, if the owner frequently maintains and repairs the car and the brakes failed because the brakes were faulty or the mechanic made a mistake, the owner did not breach a duty of care, though the brake manufacturer or the mechanic may be liable.

Lead to: The plaintiff will need to show that the negligent persons breach of duty induced the injury for which the injured party is suing. Often causation is apparent. If you run a stop light and hit a pedestrian, you clearly caused the personal injury. If the pedestrian’s elderly mother has a heart attack and passes away when she hears of her daughter’s injury, did you cause that injury? Not likely, but those are the kinds of difficulties that have to be solved in a negligent conduct lawsuit. There may also be questions about what harm was caused by an accident. Individuals often have more than one accident in their lives, so if an individual has had two prior back injuries, what injury to the back was caused by the most recent fall down a flight of stairs?

Damages: Damages in a negligence lawsuit try to put the injured party in the same position he or she would be in if the accident hadn’t occurred. A injury victim has to show the monetary value of his or her injuries. For example, if an individual is disabled and might no longer work, a calculation of damages would consider the career of the plaintiff and the amount he or she would have earned during the time left in a normal working career. Damages would also include medical costs and estimated costs for medical care, special accommodations, and assisted living.

In some circumstances defendants are at fault for negligence because of the operation of law, and not because they specifically caused an accident. For instance, since an employer is held to blame for injuries caused by employees during work, UPS may be liable if a UPS driver has an accident while making deliveries. A hospital could be held at fault for injury caused by only one nurse. Injured parties often make claims against several accused to make sure there will be enough assets (money) to pay a judgment.

If you have been injured in a car accident, you should speak with a New Jersey car accident law firm about your case. Talking to experienced New Jersey injury lawyers will help you understand your rights and options.