Negligence is a core concept in a personal injury case. In fact, it’s so important that most of the hard work in a personal injury case focuses on determining whether or not the defendant’s behavior and actions can be considered negligence. If the personal injury attorney can’t prove negligence, the personal injury case fails.
A few criteria must be met in the case in order to prove negligence, including:
- The existence of a duty owed from one party to another- the nature of the duty owed can depend from one person to another, based on the relationship between the parties.
- The existence of a breach of the standard of care – meaning that the defendant failed to do what they should have under the circumstances in light of the duty owed to the victim.
- The existence of damages that resulted from negligence- meaning that the attorney must prove that the injury was the foreseeable consequence of the mistake or failure of care.
In an injury claim, negligence is seen as the failure to provide the care toward another which a reasonable or prudent person would do in the same circumstances. In other words, the attorney must check the defendant’s behavior against how a reasonable and prudent person might have acted in the exact same situation.
Personal injury cases in Connecticut
In Connecticut, after a car accident, a slip-and-fall situation, or any other incident in which someone else’s behavior caused you harm, you can consider filing a personal injury lawsuit. A personal injury attorney, such as those from Baumgartner Law Firm, can help you fight for maximum compensation from the defendant (the person who has caused you the injury and you are suing).
If you choose to file a lawsuit, you must understand and comply with the statute of limitations that applies to these types of cases in Connecticut.
One important thing to know is that in Connecticut, there’s a general two-year deadline for personal injury cases. This means that if you want to file a lawsuit and ask for a civil remedy after an injury caused to you by someone else, you need to do it within two years from the date when the injury occurred. If you, however, file the lawsuit after the two-year deadline, the defendant will almost certainly highlight the deadline at some point to dismiss your case.
If you have been injured by another, it is best to speak with a local personal injury lawyer as soon as possible after the event. The longer you wait to pursue a case, the harder the job for your attorney, and if you wait too long to bring a case, your case can be barred.