Negligence

The most important part of a negligence lawsuit is being able to prove that the injuries or harm you sustained was directly tied to the negligent and unreasonable actions of another person. There are several aspects of negligence that must be proven in order for your negligence lawsuit to have merit. They are Breach of Duty, Cause, and Damages.

Breach of Duty
All people are held to a certain standard of conduct in order to ensure the safety of all other people within the vicinity. It must be shown that the person who is accused of negligence had a duty to care toward the person who was injured. This may seem simple, but in practice it can be difficult to determine.
An easy example would be if a driver accidentally drove into a bike lane and injured a biker. The driver had a duty to care toward the biker because they should have both been driving in their respective lanes to ensure safety for both parties. However, the driver drove carelessly and allowed himself to swerve into the bike lane and injure the biker. This action is classified as negligence.

A harder example would be a homeowner who has a pool in their backyard, and a tall fence to try and ensure no one can climb into the yard and injure themselves in the pool. This is difficult because the homeowner exercised reasonable actions by creating a large protective barrier with the fence, so if someone climbed in and hurt themselves they were exercising negligence. However, if the fence door was left open or the fence was in disrepair, it could be argued the homeowner was negligent.

Cause
The next important factor in proving a negligence case is to prove that if the accused had not committed these careless actions that the plaintiff would not have been injured. Direct cause can be proven if the actions were so grossly irresponsible that they clearly put other people within the vicinity at risk.

The defendant also has a responsibility to ensure that the actions they are carrying out will not put anyone else in danger, within reason. This means that the defendant should have used reason to determine if and how their actions could affect other people by forseeing possible outcomes. An example could be if a worker is loading a truck on a loading dock, and a child who is not being watched by their parent is injured by a large object. Is the worker negligent because he did not foresee the child being on the premises? Or is the parent negligent for allowing their small child to roam into an area where trucks are being loaded? These are the types of questions that can help to determine if negligence was a factor.

Damages
Damages are the last component of negligence cases, and involves injury to the plaintiff as well as monetary damages incurred because of their injuries. This puts the defendant in the shoes of the plaintiff, and if actual monetary damages were sustained, the defendant is liable for all of the costs associated with those injuries. This most obviously includes damage to property, medical bills, and other direct monetary damages, but also involves compensation if the plaintiff is no longer able to work and earn money. If negligence, fault, and damages are proven, the defendant will generally be responsible for compensating the injured party for all of these associated bills, and possibly more.