North Carolina’s personal injuries laws may allow you to receive compensation if you were injured by someone else, or due the negligence of a third party. To obtain compensation, it is common to establish the negligence of the other party. It is difficult to prove negligence, particularly for Asheville injury victims. A personal injury lawyer, such as Lakota Denton, can help you set up a case that is effective. With Lakota R. Denton, you can get compensation for your Asheville injury by building a solid case of negligence.
What is Negligence?
Negligence, as a legal term, is used when someone has a duty of care to another person but fails to fulfill it. An injury then occurs. In a negligence case the injury was caused by negligence, because the other party failed to provide the care that you needed. In the majority of negligence cases, the party at fault did not mean to injure you, but the lack of action they took was the cause.
How do you prove negligence?
To prove negligence in Asheville you need to prove four things. You must prove:
1. The person owed you a duty of care
Your legal team will need to prove that the person was responsible for you. It means the person has a duty of care to you. The duty of care is also applicable when someone has a responsibility to the public.
Often, the duty of care will be obvious. A professional, such as a teacher or doctor, has an obligation of care towards those under their care. When a patient comes to the doctor for medical care, he or she has a duty of caring. A teacher has a duty to care for and educate their students. These two professionals do owe you no duty of care if they help you manage your personal finances.
The drivers who are on the road owe a duty to the public. To avoid an accident, they agree to follow driving laws. They are failing to provide the public with the duty of care if they do not adhere to the laws or drive recklessly.
Here are some examples of duty to care. To prove negligence, it is necessary to show that the other person had a duty of care. You cannot bring a claim for personal injury against a person if they didn’t.
2. A person has breached their duty of care
After proving the duty of care of the party at fault, the legal team will need to prove that this party breached that duty. It is not enough that someone was injured to prove a breach in duty of care.
A reckless driver who causes a car accident that results in injuries would be an example of a breach. Driving recklessly is a breach of the duty of care associated with driving. If a doctor ignored a patient’s symptoms, without reason, and that patient ended up with a serious injury or illness, it could be considered a breach of duty of care.
A driver may not be in breach of their duty of care if they were following all driving rules and an unavoidable event occurred, such as a road hazard rolling up before them. If a doctor is not able observe a certain symptom, or was not informed of it, and fails to diagnose the patient correctly, then they may not be in breach of duty.
3. This breach led to the injuries
To prove negligence in Asheville the legal team will need to prove that the breached duty of care caused harm to another person. The case is not considered negligence if there was no harm or the damage was caused by another cause.
4. The injured party is not at fault
North Carolina is only one of five states that have a contributory negligence rule. The rule states that if an injured party is at fault for the accident they will not be entitled to damages. This is a case where the burden of proof falls on the defendant. However, it can be difficult to prove negligence.
Take a case of a slip and fall that occurs inside a shop as an example. The customer may be guilty of contributory negligence if they slipped and fell after entering an area that was restricted or tripped over a hazard. If a pedestrian gets hit by a car because they were texting instead of paying attention to where they were going, then they could be guilty of contributory negligence.
There are ways to defend against the contributory negligence rule. However, it makes North Carolina injury cases more difficult. Because of this,
What is not required to prove negligence in Asheville
In contrast to other types of personal injuries cases, negligence does not require that the injured party prove an intent to harm. When the party at fault knows that their actions are going to cause harm and still performs them, the case is usually prosecuted under reckless conduct.
A person does not need to prove they did something. If someone fails to do something they are required to do under their duty of responsibility, then it can be considered negligence.
What is negligence per se?
In the majority of negligence cases, an injured party will have to prove that a reasonable person in the same situation would have acted negligently. If the negligent party violates law, it could fall under “negligence as such” rules.
Negligence is a legal term that means the person at fault broke a law or violated an official regulation. In this case, the court can consider the person’s actions negligent without digging deeper to determine if a reasonable person would not have acted in the same way. A violation of a law, regulation or other rule eliminates the requirement to prove negligence and breach of duty. When determining fault, the judge and jury will consider whether or not a law was broken.
In Asheville, legal representation is essential in personal injury cases
Injury victims in North Carolina can lose their claims if they do not put together an effective case. Personal injury law is complex and it’s easy to lose your claim if you don’t present a strong case. Working with an attorney can be very beneficial. Start building a case with an Asheville personal injuries attorney like Lakota Denton who knows how to prove negligence.
The article How To Prove Negligence In Asheville Personal Injury Claims first appeared on Attorney at Law Magazine.