Keys To Winning A Personal Injury Case

In a personal injury case, you need to carefully weigh the evidence to make sure that everything lines up like it should. In particular, you need to prove that the defendant owed a duty of care, that the defendant breached said duty, that this breach caused an accident, and that the accident actually caused damages. 

Duty of Care

When you go to someone else's house, they need to take reasonable steps to keep you safe. For example, if a neighbor asks you to cut some limbs from a high tree and gives you a shaky ladder to use, they are not putting you in a safe position. If you trust your neighbor and climb the ladder they give you and the ladder collapses, your neighbor failed to live up to the duty of care they owe you. 

Breach of Duty

The above example is only one of many possible examples for breach of care. What you need to understand about breach of care is that in order to hold your neighbor responsible for any injuries you sustain in an accident, you can't have a pure accident. For example, if a freak windstorm blows through your neighbor's yard and a tree falls, there was no breach of care in that your neighbor had no way to foresee the problem or take steps to prevent it. When looking at a breach of duty, you need to determine if there was something that could have been done but wasn't done to prevent your injuries.

Causation

In some cases, an injuring party may breach their duty of care but still not cause your injuries. For example, if your neighbor gives you a faulty ladder, but you lean way off to one side and cause the ladder to fall, your own actions were the direct cause of your injuries. 

Damage

Before you can sue someone for damages, you have to show that you actually sustained damages. If you fall off of a ladder without receiving injuries, but then get hurt a week later, you cannot retroactively sue your neighbor to help pay for injuries.

Before you decide to bring an injury case, you should make sure that you have solid facts to support your case in all of the four areas mentioned above. If you are having a hard time gathering and/or understanding evidence, then you should consider hiring a lawyer to guide your efforts with more info, build your case, and provide you with a solid approach to the case to offer you a good chance of winning your case.


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