Being injured in an accident can be traumatic; you’re left feeling a little dazed and confused about your next steps. However, you’re pretty confident you have grounds to file a personal injury claim and recover compensation for your injuries and other damages.
Suddenly, you’re dealing with legal issues that don’t make sense. For example, you’re being questioned about negligence and reasonable care. If you’re not sure why this is coming up after an accident, you’re not alone. These are only part of the 4 key elements of a personal injury case. So what are the four elements of a personal injury case? We’ll take a look at this and more.
What is a Personal Injury Claim
Before you start worrying about the elements of a personal injury claim, it’s a good idea to know if you have a claim. Just because you sustain an injury doesn’t automatically mean you can run and file a claim.
So, a personal injury claim means you sustain an injury that isn’t a direct result of your fault. In simpler terms, your accident and injury are the result of someone’s unintentional negligence or malicious fault.Â
While this sounds simple, it’s also where your case can run into complications. You must prove negligence or malicious intent before you can proceed with your personal injury case. This is also where the four key elements of a personal injury case become important.
Key Elements of a Personal Injury Case
All personal injury cases must prove four key elements. There’s no getting around this legal requirement. If you can’t prove these elements, your case isn’t going very far. This means the court can reject your case based on a lack of evidence. So what are the four elements of every personal injury case?
Duty to Exercise Reasonable Care
The first element you must prove in a personal injury case is the duty to exercise reasonable care. The meaning of reasonable care can vary slightly depending on the type of accident. For example, drivers are expected to follow all traffic laws as they apply to other motorists, pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclist riders, and this means stopping at red lights, yielding the right of way, etc.
Slip and fall accidents have a different reasonable care rule. Whether it’s a business, property, or homeowner owner. All are legally required to provide a safe environment for visitors or customers, which means keeping the premises free from debris, along with wet or slick floors.
When it comes to medical malpractice cases, the duty to exercise reasonable care is a little different. Instead of worrying about slick floors and traffic laws, your case may depend on the actions of other medical professionals. If your injuries aren’t aren’t considered normal under regular care guidelines, you may have grounds for a personal injury or medical malpractice case.
Breach of Reasonable Care
If you prove there is a failure in the duty of care, the next step is proving there’s a breach. Also known as a failure to exercise reasonable care, this is the second step in proving negligence in an accident case.
Failing to exercise reasonable care can be benign, like forgetting to put a caution sign down on a wet floor. In this instance, there isn’t a malicious intention—instead, someone just forgot the next step in the process. Don’t worry, you can still prove the second element in your injury case. Just remember your injuries are not the result of malicious behavior.
However, sometimes the behavior is reckless—this doesn’t mean it’s malicious, only that an individual acted without forethought. An example of this is an intoxicated driver; the individual chose to get behind the wheel after drinking and caused the accident. Their decision to drink and drive qualifies as reckless behavior. You should also know driving while intoxicated is illegal in all 50 states, and this may give your personal injury case additional merit.
Before you relax and believe you’ve proven the second key element of your injury case, don’t forget about your actions. Your actions may also contribute to the accident and this can affect a personal injury case. For example, if you fail to come to a complete stop at a red light but are struck by an intoxicated driver, you may be assigned some of the blame for the accident.
Causation
Causation means showing that there is a failure to use reasonable caution or care or it at least is partially responsible for the accident. Since Oklahoma is a comparative negligence state, you only need to show that the lack of reasonable at least is a contributing factor to your accident.
Comparative negligence allows you to file an injury claim even if you’re only partially at fault for the accident. Something to know about comparative negligence laws is you can only be 50% responsible for an accident to file a personal injury claim.Â
Your compensation amount will also be reduced by the same percentage as your blame. So if you’re 30% responsible for the accident, your compensation amount is reduced by 30%.
Your Damages
The fourth element of a personal injury claim is damages. This can include both your economic and non-economic damages. If you’re not injured and there’s not any property damage, you don’t have a personal injury claim. Often, accident victims won’t pursue an accident claim if their injuries are limited to minor cuts and bruises and property damage is non-existent.
If you do suffer damages that require you to pay out of your pocket, you may be able to pursue a claim for both economic and non-economic damages, This can include your medical expenses, and repair costs, along with compensation for any pain and suffering the accident may cause.
An Attorney Can Help You Understand the Elements of Your Accident Case
Understanding the key elements of a personal injury case can often be perplexing, particularly when it involves the many intricacies of comparative negligence law. Nonetheless, this complexity can be significantly reduced by seeking the guidance of an experienced attorney who can help provide clarity and a bit of strategic direction.
Attorneys can help aid in simplifying the process and also bring invaluable expertise in evidence gathering and argumentation, which are critical when the nuances of proving negligence come into play. Engaging with a legal professional ensures that your case is navigated with precision, enhancing your chances of a favorable outcome.
