negligence defined
Negligence: In order for a claim for negligence to be established there are several elements that must be met. There must be 1) a legal duty to use care; 2) a breach of that duty; 3) causation (actual & proximate); and 4) actual damages.
In order to establish the duty requirement, each situation must be looked at objectively towards the relationship the two parties have with one another and whether one party owes a standard of care of conduct to the other.
The standard of care typically used is a reasonable person standard and is determined by asking whether a reasonable person in a similar situation would have acted in the same way. It is presumed that a reasonable person would not create an unreasonable risk of harm to another.
It is important to note that the law does not require a person to provide aid to a person in trouble.
A breach of that duty is established when the individual's behavior, acts or conduct do not meet the reasonable standard as owed to the other party. Typically, acting unreasonably or causing an unreasonable amount of harm to someone, by failing to meet the standards of duty may meet the requirement of a breach.
Since each case is unique and has its own complexities, the breach element must be looked at by the trier of fact (judge or jury).
The third element of negligence is causation. The breach of the duty must proximately cause the plaintiff's injury. Causation can be broken into two categories: Actual and Proximate. The defendant's breach was the actual cause of the injury to the plaintiff. This test is usually examined by determining but for the defendant's conduct, the injury would not have occurred. And finally, the proximate cause was a result of the defendant's breach of duty. This is determined by checking the foreseeability of the defendant's actions and whether it is foreseeable that his/her actions would have resulted in the plaintiff's injuries.