Do you think that you have a case involving negligence but aren’t sure of the factors involved? I am going to present to you a list of what classifies as negligence and whether or not you have a case. First and foremost is duty. Do you have a duty to the person you harmed? For example, if you are living in an apartment and you are hurt due to unsafe conditions. You could have a case against the landlord, because he owes a duty to you as a landlord. It doesn’t have to be a written agreement for someone to owe a duty to you. For example if you are on a motorcycle or canoeing with a friend who says that he has done this before and you have nothing to worry about, and you get hurt on this trip, you may have a case.
Next is breach of duty, but this falls hand in hand with duty. Duty is figuring out whether the person or persons involved owe a duty to you, and breach of duty is figuring out if they have actually breached a contract. The contract could be verbal, written, or even implied in some cases.
Causes in fact is the third one, and this is figuring out if the plaintiff actually suffered injuries. If you are going to claim that Billy built you a treehouse, and you fell out of it and broke your arm, don’t wait until it heals to file the claim. The judge is likely to want to see all injuries claims are shown, in order for the verdict to go your way.
Fourth on the list is proximate cause, which relates to the scope of the plaintiff injuries, and whether or not any of your injuries had nothing to do with the defendant. In this case you have to be sure that the injury or injuries you are presenting were directly related to the defendant’s negligence, and you aren’t presenting unrelated injuries, in order to get more out of the case.
Last but certainly not least, is damages, and this is very important. It isn’t enough that the one who owes a duty, hurt your feelings or upset in you any way, you need to present actual physical harm in order win a negligence case.
I hope this list helps you, if you are thinking of filing a negligence suit.
Sources:
encyclopedia.com
