Negligence or No Negligence

1
Negligence or No Negligence, That is The
Question and How the Answer Could Mean
Compensation For Your Injuries In Tennessee.
2
In the legal arena, negligence is a very specific
term that describes a scenario where a legal duty
was breached, causing damages. There are many
battles fought in courtrooms over what is and is
not negligence, because a finding of negligence
could mean a lot of money paid to an injured
party. The most common types of negligence are
car accidents. When we drive, we have a duty to
exercise reasonable care for the safety of those
around us. If you have spent any time on the
road, you know that people do not always exercise
reasonable care, whether they are distracted from
texting, driving while intoxicated, or running a
red light because they are in a hurry. When such
unreasonableness occurs, and it results in an
accident, there may be negligence.
There are many other times when negligence
occurs, such as when someone slips and falls in a
grocery store because an employee failed to place
a wet floor sign after mopping or when someone is
bit by a dog that an owner knew was dangerous.
To have a situation rise to the level of
negligence, certain elements must be proven a
duty, a breach of that duty, causation, and
damages.
3
Duty When the law recognizes a relationship
between two individuals, then there may be a duty
to act in a certain manner to ensure the safety
of another individual. When a duty arises depends
entirely on the circumstances of the situation at
hand. Some duties are created by law, such as the
duty of a land owner or drivers of vehicles.
Other duties exist because of the relationship
between two people, such as a doctor-patient
relationship or a parent-child relationship. For
example, if you see a person drowning, there is
likely no duty owed to save that person (even if
there is a moral duty, there is no legal duty).
However, if that person is your child, a legal
duty to attempt to save that child exists, where
it otherwise would not. Another example is if
someone falls in front of you at a store, and you
did nothing to cause that fall, you are likely
not going to be found negligent. However, if you
are the owner of that store, there may be a duty
owed to that same shopper and you could be found
to have acted negligently merely because of your
position as a store owner. Whether a duty exists
completely depends on the situation at hand and
the relationship between two individuals
4
Breach of Duty Once it is determined that a
legal duty exists, one must then prove a breach
of that duty. Whether someone breached a duty is
usually a question that can only be answered by a
jury. An example of a breach of a duty would be
if you were visiting a friends house and there
was some danger on the property, say a broken
stair that they knew about but did not tell you
about. If you injure yourself after stepping on
the broken stair, your friend could be
responsible for your injuries. As a property
owner, your friend had a duty to warn you about
dangers on their property that they knew about.
Your friend breached that duty when he failed to
tell you about the broken stair before you used
the stairs. Causation Even if someone owed
you a duty, then breached that duty, if that
breach was not the cause of your damages, then
there is no negligence. While causation is a very
complex element, it can be understood by thinking
about it in an example. If driver 1 was texting
and driving and struck driver 2s vehicle, and
driver 2 had to undergo back surgery a week
later, you would think that driver 1 is
responsible for driver 2s injuries. However, if
you learn that driver 1 hit a parked car, and
driver 2 was inside a store getting groceries at
the time of the accident, you see that driver 1
was not the cause of driver 2s injuries. There
is no link between the breach of duty (driver 1
texting and driving then hitting driver 2s
vehicle) and driver 2s need for back surgery.
That link is causation.
5
Damages An essential element of negligence is
damages, which must be actual and quantifiable.
This means that even if a person meets all three
elements above, if there are no damages then
there is no negligence. Most people who reach out
to an attorney after an injury have damages,
typically medical bills. This element gets tricky
when determining how much of those damages a
person can legally recover. In Tennessee, certain
damages may be capped. Further, Tennessee is a
modified comparative negligence state, meaning
a person cannot recover from another if they are
fifty percent or more at fault. For example, in
a car accident, if two cars collide and both
drivers are found to be 50 at fault, neither can
recover from the other. However, if one driver
is 49 at fault and the other is 51, the driver
with 49 of the fault may be able to recover from
the other driver. However, damages will be
reduced by the percentage of fault. It takes
all four elements discussed above to have a
negligence claim. A personal injury attorney is
the best person to determine whether you may have
a negligence claim. If you have suffered injuries
and believe it is a result of negligence, contact
our firm for a free consultation to see if you
are entitled to compensation for your injuries.
For further information you please click Nursing
home abuse cases and Knoxville personal injury
lawyer