Duty

Negligence requires a showing that the defendant owed a duty of care to the plaintiff. Courts use a “reasonable person” standard to determine whether this duty of care existed. This standard holds that a defendant’s duty of care extends to preventing injury that a reasonable person in like circumstances could have foreseen. The duty of care is sometimes readily apparent, and plaintiffs can quickly move on to proving the remaining three elements of negligence. However, the reasonable person standard is inherently vague, and whether a duty of care was present is not always obvious. Courts are always left to examine specific facts of the case when determining whether the defendant owed the plaintiff a duty of care.

Breach of Duty

The next step for a plaintiff in a personal injury lawsuit is proving that the defendant breached his or her duty of care. Defendants can breach their duty of care intentionally or unintentionally. Courts apply the reasonable person standard with this element as well. This element is satisfied so long as a reasonable person would have known that the defendant’s action or lack of action was sufficient to constitute a breach. The reasonable person obeys traffic laws, looks both ways before crossing the street, and is prudent in all aspects of life.

Just like the duty element of negligence, a breach of duty can be readily apparent.

Cause

Defendants who clearly breach their duty of care are not liable to plaintiffs unless the breach of duty directly caused the plaintiff’s injury. Proximate cause is used to determine whether a plaintiff’s injury can rightly be attributed to a defendant’s breach of duty. Under the theory of proximate cause, defendants can only be liable for injuries they could have reasonably foreseen resulting from their actions. For instance, failing to post a No Diving sign in a shallow pool could be the proximate cause of a diving injury, but probably not of the heart attack that the diver’s grandfather had when hearing of the injury.

Damages

A plaintiff’s personal injury claim will not succeed where the defendant’s breach caused the injury unless he or she suffered actual damages. In other words, plaintiffs cannot be compensated for their injury unless there is something to be compensated for. This element is only satisfied if the plaintiff suffers injury to his or her person or property.