
How Is Fault Determined After A Car Accident?
Fault in auto accidents as well as other types of personal injury cases is based on negligence. Someone is at fault only if the accident was caused by an act of negligence or an intentional wrongful act. Negligence is an action that breaches a duty toward others. Although there are many specific duties imposed on peoples’ behavior, it is also generally required that people act in a reasonably prudent manner in their actions toward others. Thus, negligence in its most general form is the failure to act in a reasonably prudent manner toward others. There are certain elements that must be met to prove a cause of action based on negligence and have a successful personal injury case. The elements of a negligence cause of action are duty, breach, causation, and damages. In this blog post, we will look at each of these separately.
Duty
Duty is the first element of negligence that must be proven. The person who injured you must have had some duty under the law to act or not act in a certain way. This duty can generally be based on one of two types of law—common law or statutory law. There are many types of duties created by case law which are thus part of the common law. For instance, in most states the common law provides that people must use reasonable prudent care under the circumstances regarding all their behavior towards others. An example of this would be that everyone has a duty to use reasonable care to avoid bumping into others while driving. If you fail to use reasonable care and you bump into someone, you have violated that duty to use reasonable care. In most states, statutory laws could form the basis of a personal injury lawsuit if the duty outlined in the statute is breached. For instance, a law might require a person to have functioning headlights to drive a vehicle at night. If a person drives at night with no headlights, they have breached the duty provided in the law and if they cause an accident, then there is a potential personal injury case based on this breach of duty.
Breach
The second element of a negligence claim is breach of duty. To have a successful personal injury lawsuit based upon negligence, the defendant must have had some duty toward you and he or she must also have breached or failed to follow, that duty. For example, people generally have the duty to drive their vehicles in such a manner as to not run stop signs. If a person breaches this duty by running a stop sign and crashes into you, then you have the first two elements of a negligence claim: duty and breach.
Causation
The third element of a negligence claim is causation. To recover damages for injuries caused by the negligence of another per- son, the breach of duty (the first two elements) must have been the cause of your injuries. For instance, if the defendant ran a stop sign and t-boned your vehicle and you suffered an injury because of the accident, then there is causation between the breached duty and your injury, and you can recover damages for the injury. However, if you develop leg pain because you fell earlier in the day and the pain has nothing to do with the accident, then you cannot blame the car accident for the leg pain, as there is no causation. This is because there is no connection between the breached duty and your injury. It is important to note that not only must the defendant’s behavior be the cause of the injury, but it must also be the proximate cause of the injury.
Damages
The final element of a negligence claim is damages. This one is simple. You must have suffered damages of some sort to have a cause of action. In other words, if you have no personal injuries or property damage, you have no lawsuit. Damages include monetary losses, often called economic damages, such as medical bills, lost wages, damages to property and other losses which have an easy calculable monetary value.
Accident Attorney in Miami & Broward
The elements of a negligence claim presented above are the elements of a claim for any type of negligence tort, not just auto accidents. Thus, the same elements would apply to prove negligence in a slip and fall case or a product liability case and so on. The personal injury lawyers at Suarez and Montero are ready to provide you with top-notch legal services. We take all types of personal injury matters including motor vehicle accidents involving trucks, government vehicles, cars, motorcycles, bicycles, ATVs, pedestrians, etc. We have the tools and legal experience and would like to put it to work for you! At Suarez and Montero, we would like to help our clients focus on recovering from their injuries while we focus on protecting their legal rights under the law. Our personal injury lawyers are ready to provide proven legal representation and stand ready to protect your rights. We are available 24/7 to give you a free, no risk case consultation!
We serve clients throughout Florida including those in the following areas:
Miami-Dade: Aventura, Coral Gables, Doral, Fontainebleau, Hialeah, Homestead, Kendall, Miami, Miami Beach, Miami Lakes, North Miami, Tamiami, and Westchester.
Broward: Fort Lauderdale, Hallandale Beach, Hollywood, Pembroke Pines, and Weston; and Palm Beach County including Boca Raton, Lake Worth, and West Palm Beach.