Most personal injury cases in New York fall under the act of negligence. For such cases, it is critical to your case to be able to prove that your injurer actually acted negligent, that is, with little or no regard for your well-being, thus putting you in the way of danger and consequently causing you harm. As simple as this may seem, it is not always so. It is therefore crucial that you hire a highly competent and experienced personal injury attorney like we have at our law firm.
Our team of personal injury attorneys offers legal representation in personal injury cases, helping victims acquire compensation for the pains they have been put into by someone else’s inappropriate actions. When we work with you, our first attempt is to get in-depth details of your case to better understand the situation and how it stands with personal injury laws. Call us if you wish to speak with a personal injury attorney near you in 10457, The Bronx, NY.
Proving your case
If you have been injured by someone else’s negligence you may be awarded proportionate monetary compensation but this depends on how well you can prove your case. Proving your personal injury case lies in the hands of your hired attorney. However, when your case lies with your insurance company, proof might not be the case but how much compensation would be appropriate.
The section below gives a precise understanding of the four key elements to prove in a personal injury lawsuit.
1. Duty of care
Everybody is obligated to avoid acting in a way that puts someone else in danger. In most circumstances and places you go to, some duty of care is owed. Take for example a grocery store. Since the shopkeeper expects customers to move around, the floors should be frequently checked for materials that may cause slips and falls. Also, heavy objects should not be placed at high levels or at an unstable spot where they may likely fall upon a customer.
But then again, not all situations are so clear cut. Even as there is a duty of care, there are no laws or guidelines (as you have traffic rules) stating exactly how people should act towards others and to whom exactly they owe that duty of care.
2. Breach of duty
If you accidentally get injured in a shop and believe your injury was due to the shop owner’s negligence, the question would likely be how unreasonable were their actions to pass as actual negligence?
After successfully proving that you were owed some duty of care, you must then be able to prove that the injurer breached that duty, in that, he or she did not live up to it.
Say, a road construction work is ongoing. The construction company owes a duty of care to the road users to put warning signs at a distance to ward of oncoming traffic. If no warning signs are put in place and because of that a driver runs headlong into the area and ends up injured, the accident was clearly as a result of the company’s negligence.
Howbeit, in our everyday lives, we encounter risky situations which may not be directly anyone’s fault. When undergoing treatment, you can develop some negative effects but this may not be directly due to the doctor’s negligence. Proving there was a breach of duty typically is about proving whether the accused acted in a way that was unsafe to the injured at that very instance.
3. Cause and effect
Duty of care is an obligation and not a specific instruction to carry out at all given time. In some situations, the accused may have acted negligent but their negligence may as well not have been the cause or only cause of an accident. A driver may be guilty of over speeding or drunk driving but if it has no link with an accident, then cannot be sued for personal injury.
4. Damages
The ultimate goal of a personal injury case is to get monetary compensation for the damages (bodily and/or emotional injuries) you have sustained due to the recklessness of another party.
Even when there was an actual breach of care which led to an accident, there would be no compensation if you cannot show that you have suffered or will suffer any loss due to the accident.
Get the result you deserve by contacting us
Legal matters are delicate and require experienced handling. At our law firm in New York City 10457, our team of personal injury attorneys has won millions of dollars for clients all over New York. When you come to us, your attorney will look into your case and note its strengths and weaknesses in order to determine how to present it in court. If you deserve compensation, then it is the duty of your personal injury attorney to make sure you receive every penny to compensate your loss. Call our office today.
