“How Do I Prove My Personal Injury Case?” This is one of the most common questions our personal injury lawyers hear. That’s because this is a situation that most people don’t find themselves in, so it can be confusing at first.
In every tort case (a/k/a personal injury case), there are at least four elements that you must prove to win your case. In rare cases, there are additional elements, but the four basic elements are below. If you’re going to handle your injury case on your own, make sure you prove every element. You will lose if you don’t. If you hire an injury lawyer, make sure your lawyer explains the elements to you thoroughly.
1. Duty of Care
There must be a duty owed by the negligent party to the injury victim. This could be as simple taking reasonable precautions to prevent an injury from occurring. For example, the duty in a car crash is to obey all traffic laws and to be careful when driving around other people on the roadway. Similarly, in a premises liability case (like a slip and fall), the duty is for the property owner to keep the property reasonably safe.
2. Breach of the Duty of Care
The breach of the duty of care is just what it sounds – the negligent party has violated their duty in some way. In a car crash, it means the negligent driver was either not driving safe or violated a traffic law. In a premises liability case, the property owner in some way did not keep the property safe.
3. Injury (called Damages)
There must be an injury for there to be a case – that may seem obvious, but some people believe that they have a case just because there is a breach of the duty of care – this isn’t true. The breach means nothing if there is no injury.
4. Causation – a causal link between your Injury and the Duty of Care
Finally, the breach must cause the injury. In other words, you must be able to connect the dots between the breach of the duty of care and the injury. We call this causation.
Without all of the above elements, there is no case. Each and every one must be satisfied, or you lose. You can try to prove them on your own, but having an experienced personal injury lawyer on your side will make it easier – we have the resources, the knowledge and the experience to prove your case.
Conclusion
Now you should have a pretty good answer if someone asks you, “How do I prove my personal injury case?” Keep looking around our website. We have a lot of helpful information that should be of assistance to you.