What Are Some Examples of Negligence Cases?

In personal injury cases, the injured party relies on a legal concept called negligence to prove that the other party was at fault for causing them harm. So, what is negligence? In this article, we'll break down the meaning of this legal concept through an illustration of its key components: duty and breach.

The Fundamental Elements of Negligence

When trying to prove that another person’s negligence was the cause of an injury, the first step is to establish that he or she had a duty of care in the situation where the injury occurred. A plaintiff injured by the defendant's negligence needs to provide evidence that a duty of care was breached. In order to successfully win a lawsuit, the plaintiff needs to show that they sustained real injuries from that breach.

It is up to a plaintiff in an injury case to show proof that actions taken by the defendant failed to meet the level of care expected under the circumstances. But what is considered "reasonable" in one situation may be significantly more or less reasonable in another given scenario.

What Does "Duty of Care'' Mean in a Personal Injury Case?

"Duty of care" is a legal obligation to avoid causing harm to others. For example, drivers are legally required to drive with reasonable care and attention, especially when taking into consideration factors such as time of day, weather conditions, and traffic.

State legislatures have enacted traffic laws that identify drivers' obligations when presented with different situations (e.g., in yielding) as well as prohibiting certain actions (texting while driving). If a driver violates a driving law and causes an accident that injures others, he or she would be said to have breached the duty of care owed.

Here are some examples that illustrate the duty of care in other types of injury cases:

• Property owners have a legal obligation to act within a reasonable time when they are made aware of hazards to keep the premises free from known potential dangers and be aware of any new dangers as they present themselves.
• In a medical malpractice case, the health care provider must provide treatment in line with what would be considered "standard of care" for the field, which is often established by medical experts called as witnesses.
• In a defective product case, the company that manufactured and distributed the product has a legal obligation to protect consumers from unreasonable or unexpected dangers in their goods.

Examples of "Breach of Duty” in a Personal Injury Case

Once it has been determined that the defendant owed the plaintiff a duty of care, the next step is for the plaintiff to prove how exactly the defendant's actions were unreasonable. In other words, how does the defendant's act of harming the plaintiff make them legally responsible?

In the case of a car accident, fault can be established in several ways, including:

• In a police report, it may be revealed that the defendant has violated traffic laws.
• Submittingbased eyewitness accounts of the collision
• Through testimony given by the plaintiff
• Using the investigator's examination at the accident scene that included assessing car damage.

In some cases, the defendant's negligence may not be solely responsible for injuries. When it comes to determining fault, if the plaintiff was driving a few miles an hour over the speed limit at the time of the collision, it could be possible that their own negligence played just as much of a role (if not more) than the other driver.

If an injury is at least partly the plaintiff's fault, then his or her compensation will be reduced by their percentage of liability. This is known as comparative fault and is typically the rule of thumb for most personal injury cases in the United States. But there are a few states that use a contributory negligence system, meaning if the plaintiff is found to be at least one percent liable for an accident, they can't recover damages from any other defendants.

Accident Situations That Demonstrate Negligence

The final component needed to establish negligence is proof that the plaintiff has suffered harm from the defendant’s actions (or lack thereof).

Examples of Negligence:

Negligence cases in personal injury law can manifest in a number of ways. Below are a few examples of what they might look like:

Medical negligence

Medical negligence does not refer to intentional harm, but instead an act of carelessness. Any failure to provide acceptable medical care, or meeting an industry standard for patient care, which results in injury could constitute medical negligence.

• If a patient is not rotated often enough and gets bedsore wounds that become infected
• At any point in time, a nurse or pharmacist could make an error that could injure the patient
• Nursing home abuse and/or neglect
• Abandonment of a patient or vulnerable person by their caregiver 
• Not providing nutritious meals, prompt hygiene, or appropriate medical care
• If the staff allowed other residents and visitors to abuse a person

Premises Liability

You have a right to be safe from harm when on other people's property. This can include accidents caused by something unsafe or defective that they found there, or because of the way the premises were managed.

• Falling objects like trees
• Slip and falls
• Defectively designed or poorly maintained stairways
• Inattentive security
• Fire safety and building code violations
• Poor property lighting
• Accidents while shopping at your local supermarket
• Elevator accident
• Dog attacks
• Trip and falls on uneven sidewalks and walkways

Wrongful Death

Wrongful death claims are made against individuals whose actions, whether intentional or negligent in nature, resulted in the death of another. In car accidents, some circumstances that can result in a wrongful death negligence suit includes:

• Drivers can be negligent by commission when they do something they should not, like speeding through a stop sign and causing an accident to their fellow drivers.
• A driver can also be negligent if he fails to do something, like not using headlights while driving at night. This act of omission may result in an avoidable accident and injuries.

If a person acted recklessly or maliciously, the individual may also face criminal charges. Furthermore, the judge could order punitive damages.

Common Defenses to Personal Injury Suits Involving Negligence

When sued for negligence, it is important that defendants find a skilled attorney to help them throughout the process. There are a number of ways an individual can win their case.

Contributory Negligence

The plaintiff contributed to their own injury by being negligent. Perhaps they didn’t take reasonable steps to protect themselves from harm. If both the defendant and plaintiff are negligent, but the plaintiff is more at fault for what happened (more than 50%), then they may not be compensated.

Comparative Negligence

In this scenario, both the plaintiff and defendant contributed to some degree of negligence. The judge then determines for each party what percentage of fault is held overall and grants damages according to the portion caused by the defendant, but reduced by the percentage of fault by the plaintiff.

Assumption of Risk

A defendant in a lawsuit is not always liable for injury to the plaintiff that results from an act or activity that the plaintiff consented to and knew had some degree of risk, assuming there was no coercion. This isn't always a guaranteed outcome as some courts may still find the harm caused is egregious in nature and unreasonable.