Elements to Personal Injury Case

If you have been injured in a car accident, slip and fall accident, medical malpractice or workplace accident, now what? For most the immediate reaction may be to sue the person or party who caused your injuries. While you may have a right to do that it is important to note that not all cases need an attorney. In fact, an attorney can refuse to take a case if they feel it isn’t worth their time or experience. This article will discuss the four elements that make a personal injury case.

Elements to a Personal Injury Case

It is important to note that most personal injury claims require showing four basic elements. These elements are:

1. Defendant owed a duty of care to the victim – a duty arises in a variety of situations, such as an employer has a duty to maintain a safe workplace, a driver has the duty to obey road rules and drive safely. The victim must show that the defendant had a duty to him or her.
2. The defendant breached that duty – there must be some type of breach of the duty that was owed to the victim for recovery to occur. In most cases, such a breach is due to negligent behavior. For example, a driver is over speeding and causes an accident.
3. The breach proximately and legally caused the victim’s injuries – this is referred to as causation; the defendants breach must have caused the victim’s injury. It is necessary for the breach to be the primary factor in the injury.
4. Victim was damaged in some way due to this breach – the plaintiff must have suffered harm in some manner. This could be being physically injured and incurring medical expenses, suffering emotional trauma and/or damage to property.

It is important to note that these elements work together. So even if you have three out of the four elements you will recover compensation for the accident.