Any claim that arises from a personal injury on the basis of holding either a company or a person legally responsible for damages is known as negligent. Normally, if someone acts in a careless way and causes you an injury, under the legal principle of negligence, that careless person is legally liable for the resulting injury. In fact, negligence is the basis for assessing and determining most personal injury disputes, during informal settlement and the lawsuit.
To win a negligence case, you must prove that the defendant owed you a legal duty of care, breached the duty of care, causation and damages.
If you want to assess a negligence claim, the first stem to consider is whether or not the defendant owed you a legal duty of care. Sometimes, the relationship between you and the defendant creates a legal duty of care. For instance, a doctor owes you a legal duty to provide you with competent medical care or the defendant may owe you a legal duty of care in certain situations to act with reasonable care.
During the assessment, your personal injury attorney or the court will determine whether or not the defendant breached the legal duty of care that any reasonable person would not, under similar situations. The term reasonable person means the legal standard that represents how an average person would responsibly act in a similar situation. If an average person knew that his/her actions could cause an injury, then the defendant will be found negligent. This is because the defendant would have acted differently than the average person in the same situation.
Here, you will be required to actually show that the negligence of the defendant caused your injuries. Even though someone might have acted negligently, you can only recover when the defendant negligence caused your injuries. For instance, you cannot sue someone who negligently drove while texting for a completely unrelated incident that happened just across the street, simply because the driver was negligent. Besides, you should look at whether or not the defendant could have foreseen that his/her actions might have caused an injury. If the actions of the defendant somehow caused your injuries through an unexpected, random act of nature, the injury would be deemed unforeseeable and the defendant will unlikely be found liable.
The last element of negligence is the resulting damages. It requires the court to compensate you for the damages you got as a result of the injuries. Keep the records of any expense you incur as a result of injuries caused by someone's negligence. When claiming for personal injury compensation, you will be able to make claims for lost income, medical expenses, discomfort, pain and other special damages. If you have receipts for costs like taxi fare, prescriptions, parking cost or any other cost you have incurred, you may claim them back.
If you or your loved one is injured in Staten Island due to the negligence of someone else, it is advisable to pursue a legal claim. Consult with an experienced personal injury attorney who understands the personal injury and premises law. Making a negligence claim sometimes is very challenging, however, with the right personal injury attorney; you can get the justice you deserve. So, it is critical to seek legal advice as soon as possible to protect your legal rights to make a claim.
