Negligence may be the most important concept in personal injury law. Broadly, negligence refers to a party’s failure to meet a certain duty of care for a specific situation. When an injured party files a personal injury lawsuit, he or she must prove that the defendant’s negligence caused his or her injuries. Negligence in Texas consists of the following five elements:
Duty: The first step in proving negligence in Texas is demonstrating that the defendant had a legal duty to behave or not behave in a certain way toward you. For example, if you were injured by a car while traveling on foot, your pedestrian accident lawyer must prove that the driver who caused your accident had a duty to pay attention to the road and obey traffic laws.
Breach: Next, you must prove that the defendant breached his or her duty to you. Using the example above, proving this element in a pedestrian accident case would require your Houston auto accident lawyer to demonstrate that the other driver failed to pay attention to the road and obey traffic laws.
Cause in fact: After demonstrating that the defendant breached his or her duty, you must prove that the defendant’s breach was the actual cause of your accident and resulting injuries. For example, if you were hit by a car while riding a motorcycle, your motorcycle accident lawyer must prove that the accident itself—and not some other event—was the cause of your injuries.
Proximate cause: Not only must you prove that the defendant actually caused your injuries, but you must successfully argue that a reasonable and prudent person acting under similar circumstances would have known that his or her breach could result in injuries.
Damages: Finally, succeeding on a negligence claim requires you to prove that the defendant’s actions caused you specific and actual damages. In other words, the accident must have resulted in compensable losses, such as lost wages, medical bills, and pain and suffering.