You’re leisurely strolling through a store, head held high; then whoosh! Down you go. Your heart’s pounding, and pain is shooting through your back like a bolt of lightening. In the midst of your struggle to understand what just happened, you gather that you’ve slipped and fallen on a spilled liquid that should have been cleaned up.
Welcome to the world of negligence and injury claims. This isn’t just important — no, it’s crucial. It’s the legal skeleton that holds up every injury claim, from car accidents, to pesky slip and falls, to medical blunders. It’s as essential as that morning cup of Joe or that refreshing evening shower. Confused? Let’s break it down into bite-sized nuggets you can digest.
What’s Negligence Anyway?
Think of negligence as that friend who invites you to a party, but then forgets to tell you the location. It’s the failure to act with the prudence or foresight that a reasonable person would exercise in similar circumstances. This could involve actions such as driving while devouring a burger or omissions like an employer failing to provide safety goggles for workers.
Getting to Grips with the Nitty Gritty of Negligence
As Arizona Injury Firm Mesa would attest, to prove negligence, you need a clever lawyer who knows his or her onions. Someone who can get a judge or jury to see that the neglectful party owed you a ‘duty of care’. This duty is like an unspoken promise to keep you safe from harm.
For instance, employers should ensure safe work environments for their employees. Doctors and medical practitioners should ensure they don’t treat patients like they’re playing a game of ‘Operation’. And for those drivers among us — looking at you — remember you also have a duty of care to other road users.
Next up, you need to show that the duty of care was breached. That means, for example, the driver who thought reading messages on their smartphone was more important than watching the road, or the doctor who gave a shrug of indifference to clear signs of illness.
And then, the showstopper: causation. For your injury claim to stand, you must prove that the neglectful act directly caused your injury. Take the texting driver. While it’s true that they are a disaster waiting to happen, as long as other drivers successfully avoid colliding with them, they cannot be held responsible for an injury. But, twist the scenario and have them crash into someone because of their texting — that’s a totally different ball game.
So, keep your eyes open for acts of negligence. Remember, it’s not just important; it’s critical! You have rights, and these rights need to be defended when negligence comes a-knocking.
