Just because you’re hurt or injured doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a viable personal injury case. In order for an injury to be protected under personal injury law, specific circumstances and factors must be involved.
What is Personal Injury Law?
We live in a world that’s imperfect. When you wake up in the morning and head to work, or go out to run errands, you never anticipate getting hurt. But these situations do happen – and they aren’t always accidents.
“Americans tend to refer to most injury scenarios as ‘accidents,’ but that isn’t entirely accurate,” Query Sautter & Associates explains. “Calling something an accident implies that it was unintentional, unpredictable and unavoidable. If you were harmed because someone acted (or failed to act) in a way that they knew would be likely to cause harm to others, they’ve behaved negligently.”
Personal injury law, also known as tort law, is designed to protect you if you or your property is injured or harmed because of someone else’s act or failure to act – i.e. situations where your injury wasn’t truly an “accident.”
Under this area of law, the person who caused the injury can be held liable for damages. Personal injury cases can arise from many situations, including car accidents, slip and fall incidents, medical malpractice, and even intentional acts like assault.
The Key Legal Elements of a Personal Injury Case
For a personal injury case to be viable, four critical legal elements must be present: duty of care, breach of duty, causation, and damages. Each of these elements plays a vital role in determining whether there is a legitimate case.
- Duty of Care
The first element involves establishing that the defendant owed you a duty of care. This means the person responsible had an obligation to act in a way that would prevent harm to others. For example, a driver has a duty to follow traffic laws and drive safely to avoid causing accidents. In a similar way, a doctor has a duty to provide medical care that meets standard medical practices and doesn’t put the patient at risk.
- Breach of Duty
Once a duty of care is established, you must show that there was a breach of this duty. A breach occurs when the defendant fails to meet the expected standard of care. Using the earlier examples, a breach would occur if a driver ran a red light or if a doctor performed a procedure incorrectly. This step is crucial because it connects the defendant’s actions directly to the duty of care.
. Causation
Causation connects the breach of duty to the injuries you suffered. It’s not enough to show that the defendant breached their duty – you also have to prove that this breach caused your injuries. For instance, if a driver runs a red light and hits your car, causing you whiplash, the causation between the breach (running the red light) and your injury (whiplash) is clear. In medical malpractice, you would need to show that the incorrect procedure directly led to your injury or made your condition worse.
- Damages
Lastly, you must demonstrate that you suffered damages due to the injury. Damages can be physical, emotional, or financial. Physical damages include bodily injuries that may require medical treatment. Emotional damages might involve pain and suffering or loss of enjoyment of life. Financial damages cover medical bills, lost wages, and other costs related to the injury. The purpose of seeking damages in a personal injury case is to compensate you for what you lost due to the defendant’s actions. (It also has the secondary effect of discouraging the defendant and others from these types of negligent behaviors in the future.)
Do You Have a Personal Injury Case?
Just because you were hurt doesn’t mean you have a personal injury case. However, the opposite is true as well. Just because somebody didn’t have malicious intent to hurt you, doesn’t mean you aren’t owed some form of compensation for their negligent behavior.
If, after reviewing the elements of personal injury law in this article, you feel that you may have a case, we’d encourage you to reach out to an attorney in your state to find out more. Most attorneys offer free initial consultations and operate on a contingency fee basis, so you have nothing to lose by starting a conversation.