What Does Negligence Mean?
Negligence occurs when a person or entity fails to exercise the level of care that a reasonably prudent person would use under similar circumstances.
People have a responsibility to take reasonable precautions to avoid unnecessarily harming others. For example, drivers must operate their vehicles safely. Property owners may have a responsibility to address dangerous conditions on their premises. Businesses may also have responsibilities to protect customers from foreseeable hazards.
Negligent conduct can include actions as well as failures to act. Examples include a driver texting behind the wheel, a store failing to address a dangerous spill, or a property owner failing to repair a known hazard.
Whether someone’s conduct qualifies as negligence depends on the specific circumstances.
What Are the Four Elements of Negligence?
Most negligence claims require an injured person to establish four elements: duty of care, breach of duty, causation, and damages.
Duty of Care
First, the defendant must have owed the injured person a duty of care. This means the defendant had a legal obligation to act with reasonable caution under the circumstances.
For example, motorists generally owe others on the road a duty to drive safely and follow traffic laws. Property owners may owe visitors a duty to reasonably maintain their premises.
The exact duty depends on the circumstances and relationship between the parties.
Breach of Duty
The next question is whether the defendant breached their duty of care. A breach can occur when someone’s conduct falls below the applicable standard of reasonable care.
For example, a driver who speeds excessively or runs a red light may have breached their duty to other road users.
Evidence such as photographs, surveillance footage, accident reports, witness statements, and business records may help establish what happened and whether the defendant acted unreasonably.
Causation
An injured person must also establish a connection between the defendant’s conduct and their injuries.
It is not enough to show that another person behaved carelessly. That behavior must have caused or contributed to the injury for the person to potentially be held liable.
Causation can become disputed when multiple parties contributed to an accident or the injured person had a pre-existing medical condition. Medical records and expert testimony may become particularly important in these cases.
Damages
Finally, the injured person must have suffered damages. Someone can act negligently without creating a viable personal injury claim if their actions do not actually cause an injury or loss.
Depending on the case, recoverable damages may include:
- Medical expenses
- Lost wages and income
- Reduced earning capacity
- Property damage
- Pain and suffering
- Other accident-related losses
The damages available depend on the facts of the case and applicable state law.
What Is the Reasonable Person Standard?
Negligence claims commonly involve the “reasonable person” standard. This standard asks how a reasonably careful person would have behaved under similar circumstances.
For instance, reasonable drivers are generally expected to pay attention to traffic, maintain a safe following distance, and adjust their driving for hazardous road or weather conditions.
A driver who fails to take reasonable precautions and causes a crash could potentially be considered negligent.
The appropriate standard of care may differ in cases involving professionals, businesses, children, or parties with specialized legal responsibilities.
What Personal Injury Cases Can Involve Negligence?
Negligence is relevant to many types of personal injury claims, including:
- Car accidents
- Truck accidents
- Motorcycle accidents
- Pedestrian and bicycle accidents
- Slip and fall accidents
- Premises liability claims
- Construction accidents
- Certain medical malpractice cases
Although the same basic negligence principles may apply, the evidence needed to establish liability can vary considerably between cases.
For example, a traffic collision might involve vehicle damage, dashcam recordings, and accident reconstruction evidence. A slip and fall case could depend on surveillance footage, inspection records, maintenance procedures, and evidence showing how long a dangerous condition existed.
Because important evidence can disappear over time, investigating an accident promptly can be beneficial.
Can Multiple People Be Negligent?
More than one party can contribute to the same accident. For example, multiple drivers might share responsibility for a collision. In a commercial trucking accident, potential responsibility could extend beyond the driver to a trucking company, maintenance provider, or another party.
The injured person may also bear some responsibility.
How shared fault affects a personal injury claim depends on state law. Many states use comparative negligence rules that reduce an injured person’s compensation according to their percentage of responsibility. Some states prohibit recovery if the person’s share of fault reaches a particular threshold.
Other jurisdictions follow contributory negligence rules, which can be considerably more restrictive.
Because negligence laws differ between states, determining where an accident occurred and which laws apply is an important part of evaluating a claim.
How Can You Prove Negligence?
Negligence is generally established through evidence. Depending on the accident, useful evidence can include photographs, videos, police or incident reports, witness statements, medical records, employment records, electronic data, and expert opinions.
Medical records can help document the injuries and establish their connection to the accident. Financial records may demonstrate lost income and other monetary losses.
A strong personal injury claim should connect the evidence to each required element of negligence rather than simply showing that an accident occurred.
Contact an Oklahoma Personal Injury Lawyer at McIntyre Law for a Free Consultation
If you were injured because of someone else’s negligence, McIntyre Law can help you understand your rights and options for pursuing compensation. Because Oklahoma personal injury claims are subject to strict deadlines, taking action promptly is important.
Contact McIntyre Law today for a free consultation with an Oklahoma personal injury lawyer.