NEGLIGENCE
Any careless behavior of an individual that causes harm to others comes under the category of negligence; it makes that individual legally liable for damages done to the injured person. There are certain standards or code of conduct that is expected from every individual. If that code of conduct is violated by a person and as a result any kind of damage is done then the law requires the person at fault to compensate the injured person. Professionals such as doctors, engineers, lawyers are also required to follow the code of conduct expected in their profession. As stated above negligence generally considers three elements:
- There should be a duty of care between both the parties involved in the accident.
- The person who caused injury fell short of this duty of care.
- Last but not the least is the resultant injury caused by the other side.
The biggest issue is to prove the fault of the person against whom the claim has been filed. The general rule of code of conduct described above is the key factor in upholding the claim. The person injured has to prove the above three elements against the defendant. Proving a negligence case can be divided into two ways: Direct evidence and Circumstantial evidence. Where direct evidence constitutes photographs of the accident scene, statements of witnesses and circumstantial evidence is the inference based on the evidences found and produced.
As far as the responsibility of the mishap is considered, sometimes other than the person who’s driving (in case of an automobile accident), his or her employer is also considered at fault if the person is working for someone at the time of the accident. In addition to the defendant’s knowledge, jury also considers the actual way a reasonable person would have reacted in a particular situation. By reasonable person we mean, a person who must have followed all the standards of conduct expected of him.
