In our litigious society, we seem to hear it all too often – one person claiming in a lawsuit that another was “negligent”, often seeking millions of dollars in damages. The news media probably make more of these cases than would otherwise be justified, and many are probably groundless; but the legal doctrine of negligence remains at the core of our civil justice system.
In our common parlance, negligent means nothing more than “careless” or “slipshod”. In legal circles, however, proving a case of negligence is a bit more technical and involves several elements. Negligence at law, involves four basic elements: duty, breach of duty, causation, and damages.
Before you can be found negligent, there must exist a recognized duty or standard of conduct governing your actions. The Vehicle Code, for example, imposes a duty of due care and safe speed in the operation of a motor vehicle. If you breach this duty of care, you have satisfied the second element of the test. If you drive your car too fast for road conditions, that would be a breach of your duty to exercise care. If you leave your cracked and broken sidewalk unrepaired, exposing pedestrians to risk of a fall, your duty of care to them would be breached. Indeed, society imposes a general duty of care toward others in all of our day-to-day activities.
Simply having a duty and breaching it is not enough, however, to make you liable; your breach of duty must be the cause of some injury to another person. If a pedestrian walking on your crumbled sidewalk trips and falls over his own shoelaces, your breach of duty has not been the legal cause of his injury.
Finally, to be liable for civil negligence, your breach of duty must be the cause of injuries compensable in a monetary recovery, known generally as damages. If a pedestrian trips on your crumbled sidewalk, falls down, and bounces back up without injury, there is no case since damages are absent. (Highly unimprobable in today’s litigation climate!)
In our common parlance, negligent means nothing more than “careless” or “slipshod”. In legal circles, however, proving a case of negligence is a bit more technical and involves several elements. Negligence at law, involves four basic elements: duty, breach of duty, causation, and damages.
Before you can be found negligent, there must exist a recognized duty or standard of conduct governing your actions. The Vehicle Code, for example, imposes a duty of due care and safe speed in the operation of a motor vehicle. If you breach this duty of care, you have satisfied the second element of the test. If you drive your car too fast for road conditions, that would be a breach of your duty to exercise care. If you leave your cracked and broken sidewalk unrepaired, exposing pedestrians to risk of a fall, your duty of care to them would be breached. Indeed, society imposes a general duty of care toward others in all of our day-to-day activities.
Simply having a duty and breaching it is not enough, however, to make you liable; your breach of duty must be the cause of some injury to another person. If a pedestrian walking on your crumbled sidewalk trips and falls over his own shoelaces, your breach of duty has not been the legal cause of his injury.
Finally, to be liable for civil negligence, your breach of duty must be the cause of injuries compensable in a monetary recovery, known generally as damages. If a pedestrian trips on your crumbled sidewalk, falls down, and bounces back up without injury, there is no case since damages are absent. (Highly unimprobable in today’s litigation climate!)
– Curt Ward