If you have been injured due to someone else’s actions, you may be able to recover compensation for the harm you’ve suffered. However, your recovery will depend on your ability to demonstrate negligence. One of the legal elements of negligence is breach of duty.
This occurs when someone fails to act with the level of care that a reasonable person would under similar circumstances. Proving a breach of duty is essential to holding the at-fault party accountable and recovering damages in a personal injury claim. Read on to learn more.
Negligence is the main legal theory people assert when pursuing a personal injury claim after being injured in an accident. Negligence is defined as the failure to behave with the level of care that a reasonable person would have exercised under the same circumstances. A person’s actions or omissions can be negligent. Breach of duty is one of the four elements of negligence.
The following legal elements are part of a valid negligence claim:
When making your claim in court, you have the burden of showing these legal elements by the preponderance of the evidence. This means you must show that all of the above statements are more likely than not true or that there is a greater than 50% chance that your allegations are true.
The breach of duty is intertwined with the legal duty. The duty of care is the legal duty someone owes under a particular set of circumstances. A legal duty may be based on the law, a contract, a relationship between the parties, or ordinary prudence. A breach of duty occurs when the defendant does or fails to do something that causes harm.
The breach of duty will depend on the circumstances and the type of personal injury case.
Here are some examples when there may be a breach of duty that helps support a negligence claim:
All motorists are expected to follow the rules of the road to prevent car accidents.
They may breach their duty of care by:
Accident reports, event data recorder information, and witness statements may help show that this breach occurred.
Truck accidents often occur when truck drivers, trucking companies, or others fail to follow applicable state or federal regulations, such as:
An experienced truck accident lawyer can demand evidence, including electronic logging device data, black box data, and inspection records, to help prove these types of breaches.
Visitors to a property may slip and fall due to the property owner’s failure to maintain safe premises, which constitutes a breach of duty of care.
Common examples of hazardous conditions that may suggest a breach of duty include the following:
A lawyer can review accident reports, review inspection records, and interview witnesses to help prove the breach of duty in these and other types of premises liability cases.
States are divided in how they approach dog bite cases. Some use a one-bite rule in which the dog owner may be assumed not to have known their dog had a propensity for violence until they had bitten someone before.
Others use a strict liability standard in which the dog owner is held liable if their dog bites someone who was legally on the property and was not provoking the dog. The latter system does not require showing a breach of duty. Texas generally follows the one-bite rule, meaning victims must prove that the dog owner knew or should have known that their dog was dangerous.
A healthcare provider breaches their legal duty of care when they provide medical treatment inconsistent with the accepted standard of care. The standard of care is that which another medical professional in the same specialty and geographic area would provide under similar circumstances.
Proving medical malpractice often requires hiring an expert witness who testifies about the standard of care and how the defendant medical professional deviated from it. An experienced personal injury lawyer can help guide you through the process.
If you were injured due to someone else’s negligence, an experienced attorney from McMinn Personal Injury Lawyers can discuss your case during a free consultation. We can investigate whether the defendant owed you a legal duty of care and breached that duty. If so, we can pursue maximum compensation on your behalf. Contact us today to get started with your free consultation.
