Lawyers in PA for Cases Involving Negligence

What is Negligence?

In ordinary conversation, the term "negligence" is used
commonly to refer to a mistake. In the legal community,
however, the word "negligence" has a technical meaning
and it embodies four different elements as follows:

1. A duty was owed by the defendant;

2. a breach of the duty occurred;

3. the breach casued injuries; and

4. the injuries and damages are real, actual, not
speculative.

All of these elements must be met in order for you to
recover for negligence in the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania. Our attorneys can show you how easy (or
how difficult) your case may be depending on the facts
and evidence.

Duty to Avoid Harming Others.

We all have a duty to avoid harming others when harm is
reasonably foreseeable from our action (or inaction). For
example, if you drive your car at an unsafe speed, you
are putting others in harm's way and thus, you may be
violating a duty to foreseeable parties in your path.
Further, the violation of a statute (such as speed
restriction on the roads) can also impose a duty if the
statute is designed to protect public safety. A violation of
that duty is "negligence per se." A duty can also exist
when you have a special relationship to another person if,
for example, you are the person's caretaker. A higher
standard exists for those rendering professional
services.

Causation.
The next element of "negligence" is causation, meaning,
your act (or omission) must contribute in some real and
meaningful way to another person's injuries or damages.
In other words, your conduct must be the legal cause of
the injuries at issue. Often, an event can break the chain
of causation, such as the unforeseeable conduct of a
third party, or the passage of time or distance.

Actual Damages.
Not all injuries are recoverable under the law. For
example, in most cases, you cannot recover for the mere
annoyance of having to file a law suit. Rather, to go
forward with a claim for negligence, you must have
experienced some real, perceptible harm, such as
property damages, pain and suffering, lost wages, or
another form of actual loss. Our attorneys can explain all
of this to you in detail at no cost to you.

FREE CONSULTATION.

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