Negligence is a legal concept at the heart of most personal injury cases. In simple terms, negligence occurs when someone fails to act with reasonable care and causes harm to another person.
If you have been hurt because of someone else’s carelessness in Jacksonville, Florida, you may be entitled to compensation.
Understanding negligence is an important first step in filing a personal injury claim. Here’s what you should know.
What are the Four Elements of Negligence?
To win a negligence case, the claimant (the person bringing the lawsuit) must prove four key legal elements. These are essential for establishing that the defendant (the person being sued) acted in a way that was legally negligent.
This elements are:
- Duty of care: The other person owed you a duty to act carefully.
- Breach of duty: They failed to act as a reasonable person would.
- Causation: Their actions directly caused you harm.
- Damages: You suffered losses because of their breach of duty.
Each element must be shown with evidence. Missing even one means your case may not succeed.
What is a Duty of Care?
A duty of care is a legal responsibility to avoid causing harm to others. We all owe different duties depending on the situation.
For example, drivers have a duty to follow traffic laws and drive safely to avoid a car accident and protect others on the road.
The duty of care that Florida property owners owe visitors depends on the circumstances. Invitees, such as customers at a store, are owed a heightened duty of care. Property owners owe a lesser duty of care to licensees, such as social guests or uninvited salespeople.
Medical professionals also have a heightened duty of care to provide patients with the standard of care. This refers to the specific level of care that a reasonably skilled and competent provider would provide in similar circumstances. In other words, it’s the type and quality of care a patient should receive from any professional with comparable skill and training. When a provider fails to deliver the standard of care and causes harm, it’s called medical malpractice.
If someone ignores their duty, and you get hurt, they might be held responsible.
What Does It Mean When the Duty of Care is Breached?
A breach happens when a person fails to meet their duty of care.
Imagine a driver who texts while driving and causes a crash. That driver has breached their duty to exercise reasonable care and obey traffic laws.
A breach can involve careless actions, reckless behavior, or even failing to act when needed. Proving a breach often requires showing what a “reasonable person” would have done differently.
How Do You Prove Causation?
Causation connects the breach of duty to your injury. You must prove that the other person’s actions were a direct cause of your harm.
There are two elements of causation:
- Actual, or factual, cause (cause-in-fact): You would not have been hurt if not for the other person’s actions.
- Proximate cause (legal cause): It was foreseeable that their actions could cause harm, and their actions were a substantial factor in causing your injury.
Actual cause is the most direct cause of your injury. It’s often established with the “but-for” test, meaning your injury would not have happened but for the other party’s actions.
Proximate cause is not necessarily the first action in a series of events. Imagine a car rear-ends a pick-up truck because the driver was distracted, and, as a result, the truck strikes a pedestrian. The truck hitting the pedestrian is the direct cause of the injury, but the negligent car driver’s action was the proximate cause.
What is Negligence Per Se?
Negligence per se happens when someone breaks a law designed to protect others, and that violation causes harm.
In these cases, proving negligence is simpler. You do not need to show how a reasonable person would act: the law itself sets the standard. Instead, you must show that the defendant violated a statute designed to protect a specific group, you are a member of that group, and you suffered harm the law was intended to prevent.
Negligence per se can apply in many cases, such as driving under the influence or allowing an unleashed dog out in public.
If you were hurt because someone broke a safety law or regulation, they may be automatically considered to have breached their duty of care.
What is Gross Negligence?
Gross negligence goes beyond ordinary carelessness. It involves extreme disregard for the safety of others.
Think of a driver who speeds through a school zone at 90 miles per hour. That is not just careless: it’s reckless.
In Florida, proving gross negligence may allow accident victims to seek punitive damages. These damages are meant to punish the wrongdoer and send a strong message.
What Does Comparative Negligence Mean?
In Florida, more than one person can share blame for an accident. Under the state’s modified comparative negligence rule, your compensation will be reduced by your percentage of fault.
Suppose you are found 20% responsible for your accident due to your own negligence. If your damages were $70,000, your recovery is limited to $56,000 (80%).
However, if you are more than 50% at fault, you typically cannot recover any money under Florida law.
Insurance companies often try to shift the blame to injury victims. If you are being blamed for your accident, any fault you are assigned may reduce your compensation. An experienced attorney can help you gather evidence and ensure fault is assigned fairly.
Injured Due to Someone Else’s Negligence? Contact Our Jacksonville Personal Injury Lawyers for a Free Consultation
Were you hurt because of someone else’s negligence in Jacksonville, FL? Coker Law Personal Injury Lawyers is here to fight for your rights and pursue fair compensation.
We have recovered hundreds of millions for injury victims across Florida. Contact us online or call our law office at (904) 356-6071 to schedule a free consultation with a Jacksonville personal injury lawyer to discuss what happened to you and how we can help.