How Do You Prove Negligence In A Personal Injury Case?

Law Blog

Getting hurt is never pleasant. Sometimes, when you get hurt, it is nothing more than a fluke, and you just have to deal with it. Sometimes, however, you get hurt because someone was negligent. This means your injury was preventable, but someone simply did not take the time to take proper care of equipment or facilities. If someone has been negligent in some way, you can sue them for damages and get them to pay for at least part of your doctor bills.

Proving negligence can be tricky, so it is important to know what you should look for:

Categories of Negligence

There are many ways to be negligent. If you get injured on someone else's property, you need to consider the different categories of negligence before you decide whether or not to press a suit:

1. Failure to Provide Proper Upkeep—Maintenance is key for things to run like they should. For example, if someone doesn't keep an eye on the cord to an appliance, the sheathing on the cord can get frayed, and then you have the risk of a shock. If you don't know that a cord is damaged, you can get hurt. Whoever owns an appliance, piece of machinery, or another item requiring maintenance is responsible for providing that maintenance, so if you were injured with a piece of equipment, you should look into maintenance records.

2. Failure to Supervise—Sometimes a piece of machinery works just fine, but it requires a little bit of knowledge in order to avoid problems. If you don't have a knowledgeable person watching and guiding you, you can get hurt. The owner of a piece of property or equipment is responsible to make sure that everyone who comes on the property or uses the equipment knows what they are doing. 

3. Gross, Comparative, and Contributory Negligence—Once you have decided if a person was negligent, you have to determine how negligent they were.

1. If a person shows no concern for the safety of others, this is gross negligence. In gross negligence cases, the negligent party will pay all damages.
2. In comparative cases, the owner of the property or equipment showed only a small amount of negligence.
3. In a contributory case, the injured party is at least partly responsible for their own injuries. In this case, the injured person cannot collect damages. 

A personal injury case is rarely cut and dry. If you suspect that someone else was responsible for an injury you have sustained, you need to talk to a lawyer about whether it is worth your while to engage in a lawsuit. To learn more, contact a professional like George Wayne L with any questions you have.

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17 February 2015