In order for a claimant to be successful during the claims process, they must satisfy the elements of a personal injury claim. The elements of a personal injury claim, regardless of the type of claim, are:
Duty. The first element of a personal injury claim is duty. This means that the plaintiff must be able to show that the defendant in the case owed the plaintiff a duty of care. Sometimes, duty of care is implied. For example, all drivers owe a duty of care to others on the road, and all doctors owe a duty of care to their patients. In other cases, though, duty will need to be established.
Breach of duty. Once duty has been established, the second element that a plaintiff will need to prove is breach of duty. Usually, a breach of duty occurs in the form of negligence – the failure to act with the same level of care that a person of ordinary prudence would demonstrate in the same situation. For example, a driver acts negligently when they breach the duty of care owed to other drivers on the road by driving while distracted.
Causation. The third thing that you will need to establish in a personal injury claim is causation – that is, that the accident and your injuries would not have occurred but for the breach of duty of care that occurred. Another way to think about this is that your accident was caused by the defendant’s actions.
Damages. Finally, in addition to proving all of the above, you’ll need to establish that actual damages were suffered as a result. Medical bills, pain, suffering, lost wages, and property damage expenses are all examples of damages. Remember, you must be able to connect these damages directly to the accident caused by the defendant’s negligence.