Negligence And Personal Injury

By Author: Harvard McIntosh
Total Articles: 25
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Under the personal injury law, an individual is liable to your injuries and sufferings that were caused because of his carelessness. Negligence can be the one major cause of your injuries holding them liable for their carelessness and thoughtless action.
During the negligence trial, the judge or jury decides who a reasonable person would have acted after hearing all facts in the case. The reasonable person represents the community’s expectations of how a person should have acted under similar conditions to avoid any injuries or accidents.
In case of individuals with specialized training or knowledge like doctors, lawyers, engineers, pilots etc, their standard of conduct is compared to how a reasonable person from that particular field would have acted. Similarly intoxication isn’t an excuse for negligence.
In order to prevail in a personal injury claim under the law of negligence in Grand Prairie the plaintiff has to prove that:
Duty: the defendant owed you a duty of care under those circumstances. In general, people have the duty to act reasonably to avoid accidents and prevent ...
... injuries to others from harm. For instance, it is the duty of a store owner to protect customers from slipping on the recently wiped floor because there is legally recognized the relation between the store owner and an invitee (customer). Similarly, the driver of a car has a legal duty to his passengers and all other drivers to drive with a certain caution. A preexisting relationship creates duty for one to protect others from injuries.
Breach of duty: the defendant has breached the duty of care. The duty of care is breached when the individual fails to act reasonably under similar circumstances. If the store owner fails to post a warning sign after mopping, the customer slips and falls, the store owner has failed his duty. The jury or the judge will be asking the defendant if he practiced certain degree of care to prevent the injuries to the customer.
Causation: Breach of duty caused your personal injury. It is proven that the defendant’s action really caused the victim’s personal injury. This is often called “but-off’ causation. In simple terms, if certain level of care was initiated by the defendant, injury wouldn’t have happened. Also the injured person has to show that personal injuries were foreseeable by the defendant. The defendant is also responsible for personal injuries that could have been foreseen before he engages in actions that caused injuries. This is termed as proximate cause.
Damages: you have suffered personal injury and other damages. Damages must be the results from breach of defendant’s duty of care. These can be physical injuries, financial losses or property damage.
Good representation of your case in the personal injury court is very essential to have the best compensation met for your injuries. An experienced injury attorney in Grand Prairie TX, will certainly help you secure your best interests. A knowledgeable and qualified attorney will understand your particular case and will prepare litigation accordingly.