Personal Injury 101: What is a Breach of Duty?

The world is a dangerous place. You put yourself in a place of risk every time you leave your front door. You can’t live in a state of fear, but accidents do happen. If an incident has resulted in injuries to yourself or loved ones, you could be in a seriously worrying position.

If this injury resulted from the negligence of another person or entity, you have a right to compensation under the law. However, it can be more complicated to prove negligence than you might think. First, you’ll need to prove something called a breach of duty.

What is a breach of duty and how it might impact the validity of your personal injury case? Read on and we’ll walk you through what you need to know.

What is a Breach of Duty?

When a person intends to bring a personal injury lawsuit against another person or entity, they will need to provide a large amount of evidence. A number of things need to be proven past a reasonable doubt.

The initial reasoning needs to be based on the idea that the defendant owed a duty of care to the victim and breached that duty. This might sound like a lot of legal jargon but understanding it should actually be quite simple.

A duty of care is simply a responsibility that one civilian has in regards to another. Broadly speaking, people driving vehicles have a duty of care to other drivers on the road, meaning they shouldn’t take actions that would lead to harm to others.

Businesses have a duty of care for their customers, neighbors to other neighbors, workplaces to their employees, and so forth. Sometimes these laws are outlined explicitly at the state level.

The liability laws regarding running a nuclear plant, for example, are likely outlined quite clearly. Other times, laws might be vaguer and fall under a general umbrella of responsibility.

Parents are considered to have a duty of care for their children, for example.

Proving a Breach of Duty

How can one prove that another person breached their duty of care? First, you’ll need to prove that a duty of care was established. Depending on the situation from which the injury arose, this can either be very simple or somewhat complicated.

To use the example we used before, drivers on the highway have an understood duty of care in regards to the others on the road.

To prove breach of duty, one would simply need to provide evidence that the defendant failed to act with care. They did something reckless, negligent, or selfish.

Someone who sped through a red light, or drank and drove? It would be easy to prove that these individuals breached their duty of responsibility to other drivers on the road.

Providing this evidence in the right light can be difficult. You should make sure to read about the benefits of hiring an attorney when trying to bring this kind of case forward.

Suing For Negligence

It can be difficult to prove a breach of duty in a personal injury case if you don’t fully understand the concept. The above information can help.

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