Personal Injury Negligence Explained

Ladyblogger
October 9, 2012

In order to win a personal injury lawsuit, you will need to be able to demonstrate that the defendant acted in a negligent manner. In some cases, this is extremely simple but that is not always the case. The determination of whether or not someone is negligent depends on a wide variety of different factors, and in some cases, an individual can be considered negligent for something that they did not directly physically do.

Proving Negligence

The law states that anyone who has a duty to care toward another individual cannot breach this duty without being held negligent for any damages that occur as a result of this breach. For example, all drivers have a duty to care toward everyone else that requires them to stop at a stop sign. If a driver fails to do so and they hit someone, that person’s injuries are caused due to a breach of duty. According to www.chicago-injuryattorney.net, as long as it can be conclusively proven that the driver did not stop at the stop sign, then the personal injury case will be easily won by the injured party. In another example, a landlord fails to make a necessary repair and this causes one of his tenants to become injured. The landlord is responsible for maintaining his property, but if the tenant knew about the issue before they were injured and they did not inform the landlord, then the argument of the defense may revolve around everyone’s personal responsibility to help maintain a safe environment.

Determining Fault

As the stop sign example showcases, there are definitely situations when it is easy to determine who is a fault for another person’s injury. In some cases, however, an individual might be named in a personal injury lawsuit when they did not actually interact in any way with the injured party. For example, if a negligent driver kills someone and their spouse has a heart attack when they hear the news, it is possible that the spouse will try to sue them for their medical costs. In most cases, this is a lawsuit that the plaintiff probably will not win, but if they are able to convince a jury that the stress of losing their spouse was the main contributing factor to their heart attack, then it is possible that the driver will be found guilty of both wrongful death and negligence that resulted in a personal injury.

How are Damages Determined?

When a personal injury lawsuit is filed, the injured party will seek damages that would restore them to their former anticipated financial status. In other words, if someone is unable to work for a year because of their injury, then the lawsuit will go after a year’s salary plus medical expenses. Because most individuals do not have this much money, it is common for multiple parties to be named in the lawsuit. For example, if the responsible party was working at the time of the accident, their employer may also be legally responsible for what happened. Suing both the individual and their place of employment is the best way to ensure a favorable settlement.

There are several lawyers who specialize in personal injury cases. Make sure that you properly document everything that involved your injury, and contact an attorney as soon as possible to start the legal process.

Anthony Joseph writes on various legal subjects, and is a contributing author for www.chicago-injuryattorney.net. Hiring the right Chicago personal injury attorney may help you receive financial compensation for injuries suffered from a variety of different accidents. The key is that the accident was caused by someone else, and they were considered negligent in one way or another.