Helping You Seek Compensation for Injuries
When someone else fails to exercise reasonable caution about your physical, financial, or emotional wellbeing, it may be considered “negligence” – and you may be entitled to bring a civil lawsuit against that person. While negligence may sound easy to define on the surface it can often be difficult to identify in practice.
With over 65 years spent advocating on behalf of injury victims, our team at Ashcraft & Gerel is ready to help you pursue justice for any negligent and wrongful actions. As skilled injury attorneys who can take on a range of general negligence cases in Silver Springs, we’re committed to securing the serious results that you deserve for your serious losses.
Call us at (866) 709-0505 today if you’ve been injured as a result of someone else’s negligence.
CALL 866-709-0505 OR CONTACT US ONLINE FOR A FREE, CONFIDENTIAL CONSULTATION.
What Constitutes Negligence?
Negligence is a legal term, and it means that an individual or business has failed to meet the “duty of care” required of them in a specific situation. For example, a driver who speeds through a four-way stop has not met the duty of care to operate their vehicle safely and obey traffic laws. If a person’s negligence causes a life-altering injury or property damage, then the injury victim may have cause for legal action against them through the civil justice system.
From car accidents to workplace injuries, there are an infinite number of ways that individuals, groups, or organizations can engage in negligent behavior. However, not every example of wrongful or negligent conduct can be easily categorized into an injury claim. These cases are often considered to be “general negligence” claims – and the strategy and approach can vary considerably for these cases.
Here are a few hypothetical examples of general negligence claims:
- Lack of proper security at a store: If you’re assaulted by a criminal or another shopper at a grocery store, there could be many different parties who share a degree of liability for your injuries. Depending on the situation, the store owner, the employees, the security guards, or even the grocery store franchise all could have contributed to the situation.
- Contracting an infection at the hospital: When you’re hospitalized for a long time, who is responsible when you contract a life-threatening infection? Did the nurse fail to properly sterilize tools and equipment? What if the hospital lost crucial records about your condition, leading to a premature discharge? All of these could be causes for legal action.
- Injuries caused by fireworks: When your neighbor sets off illegal fireworks within city limits and you sustain burn injuries, both your neighbor and the fireworks vendor could be liable for your losses. In some cases, a product defect may have contributed to your injuries, too.
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Primary Elements of a Negligence Case
In general, negligence claims are held to the evidentiary standard of “the preponderance of the evidence,” which is a lower burden of proof than the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard required by the criminal justice system. Because there are so many types of negligence that can occur, however, certain claim categories are treated differently under the law. Each state also applies the legal concept of negligence in a slightly different way, which means that judges and juries may require additional elements in your general negligence case.
Here are the four key elements required for negligence claims:
- Duty of care: You must demonstrate that the defendant had a duty of care to protect you from harm or take action when you were injured.
- Breach of duty: You must prove that the defendant failed to meet the duty of care required for the situation, also known as the “breach.”
- Cause: You must show that the breach directly caused your injuries.
- Damages: Finally, there have to be substantial physical, monetary, or emotional damages as a result of the negligence.
Do you believe that you have a general negligence claim in Silver