Before going straight to the elements of a personal injury claim, let’s take a look at what personal injury law is. For those of you who don’t know, personal injury law allows you to legally demand compensation from a person who intentionally, or unintentionally injured you. In short, if you get hurt, emotionally or physically, because of someone else’s negligence, you can file a personal injury claim against that person and get compensated for your loss.
All you have to do is hire a personal injury lawyer in West Palm Beach and file a personal injury claim against the person responsible for your injury. Your personal injury lawyer will help you prove your point in front of the court or the jury with the help of evidence. And that’s it. Although, it’s not as simple as it sounds. Personal injury cases can be very complicated at times. That is why hiring a personal injury lawyer is a better option than choosing to represent yourself.
Personal Injury Lawsuit: The Elements
Now that you know what personal injury law is, let’s move on and take a look at the elements of a personal injury lawsuit. There are 4 main elements of a typical personal injury lawsuit. It’s important to remember that the presence of these 4 elements is compulsory to file a solid personal injury claim. You won’t have a solid personal injury claim even if one of the following elements is absent from your case;
1. The Legal Duty
As an individual, everyone has a basic duty/rule to follow, given by the government to maintain peace in the state. For example, a driver must stay attentive while driving, it’s his duty to pay attention to the road and not cause any disturbance. Because the negligence of a single driver can hurt a lot of people and it’s his duty to keep himself, as well as other people safe.
Acknowledging the duty means that you have to acknowledge the exact duty/rule that the defendant was breaching due to which you got injured. For example, if a driver fails to follow the traffic signals and causes an accident, the “duty” that he breached was “following the traffic rules”.
2. Breaching The Legal Duty
As the name already implies, the second element you need for a personal injury claim is a breach of duty. You can’t file a personal injury lawsuit against someone unless or until they breached a legal duty. For example, the driver breached his legal duty by not following the traffic rules, so now you can sue him since he breached a legal duty and you got injured because of his negligence or carelessness.
It is important to understand that for a solid personal injury claim, not only there must be a duty, but the breach of that duty too.
3. Causation
After the legal duty and the breach of the duty is established, you need to prove the cause of the injury. This means that you’ll have to prove that the defendant is at fault. You’ll have to gather evidence that supports your statement, gather witnesses, and do as much as you can to prove your statement in front of the court or the jury. In simpler words, you’ll have to prove how the defendant injured you while breaching their legal duty.
In some cases, the plaintiff is at fault too. This means that the accident or the injury took place because of the defendant’s, as well as the plaintiff’s negligence. This is called “contributory negligence”. In such cases, a decent amount of money is cut from the plaintiff’s compensation, as a fine for the breach of legal duties.
4. The Plaintiff’s Injury
Last but not the least, the plaintiff’s injury, which is the purpose of the whole personal injury claim. If your injury isn’t serious enough, you won’t get compensated. In short, you’ll have to show the injury that you suffered because of the defendant’s negligence. Needless to say, if there’s no injury to show, there won’t be any compensation.
If you file a personal injury claim after you’ve healed from the injury, another thing you can do is document your injury (take pictures, videos, etc.) So later on, when you need to prove your statement in front of the court or the jury, you can easily show them your documented injury, as well as the recovery.
Ending Note
Personal injury law or tort law is a very detail-oriented law. If you don’t have enough knowledge about it, you’re going to mess up. Don’t risk it, call the best personal injury lawyer in West Palm Beach right now and book a free consultation because it is better to be safe than sorry.
Even if you’re not suffering from an injury, hire a personal injury lawyer because you never know when you’ll need one. You won’t have to worry about the fee since personal injury attorneys don’t get paid unless they win the case.
