Not every accident is a personal injury accident. A personal injury accident is a special type of accident that is legally actionable. There has to be a certain set of facts and circumstances present in order to meet the definition. How do you know if you have a personal injury accident? Attorneys from our personal injury law firm, the Law Offices of Gregg Durlofsky, explain.
What does a personal injury consist of?
A personal injury consists of a duty, a breach of duty, causation and damages. It occurs when a person has a duty to act in a reasonable manner towards someone else. Then, they breach that duty. Because they breach their duty, an accident occurs. Finally, there are injuries and damages that result from the accident. A personal injury consists of a breach of duty that results in an accident with injuries.
Determining if an accident is a personal injury accident
To determine if an accident is a personal injury accident, you have to evaluate what happened to see if all of the elements are present. In most cases, a person has a duty to act with care for the benefit of someone else. A duty exists for all motorists on the roads, for example. On the other hand, a duty might not exist for a trespasser on someone else’s land. There are other cases where you might waive your duty of care like when you participate in a sports league. However, in most cases, there is a duty of care.
The next step to determine if an accident is a personal injury accident is to evaluate whether the person responsible for the accident breached their duty of care. The question is whether they failed to act with a reasonable level of care. Not every accident occurs because of a breach of the duty of care. Instead, the legal standard looks at what a reasonable person should have done in the same situation. A breach of duty occurs when the actor doesn’t use at least the minimum level of care.
The final two questions for determining if an accident is a personal injury accident is whether the breach of duty causes an accident and whether the victim suffers injuries in an accident. A personal injury accident consists of injuries; the victim must suffer physical injuries. In addition, the breach of the duty of care has to be the cause of the injuries. When causation and damages are present, the victim has a personal injury.
Personal injury attorney to tell you what a personal injury consists of
Do you have questions about what a personal injury consists of? Are you wondering if you have a personal injury? Contact the personal injury law firm the Law Offices of Gregg Durlofsky for a review of your case. Their friendly personal injury attorney team is available to talk to you about your case, answer your questions and help you understand your case. Their personal injury attorneys fight for justice for victims each and every day. Contact them today.
