Understanding Negligence: Winning Your San Diego Personal Injury Lawsuit

1
Understanding Negligence
Winning Your San Diego Personal Injury Lawsuit
2
Intentional, Strict Liability, Negligence
3
For a defendant to be held liable for injuries to
a victim the defendants conduct must fall into
one of three categories intentional, strict
liability, or negligent
4
Intentional - conduct that was willful or
purposeful
Strict liability rarely used because it makes a
defendant liable regardless of the defendants
mensrea, or state of mind, and regardless of
whether the defendant did anything to try and
prevent injury from occurring. Only an injury to
the victim is required.
Negligence most commonly used. Requires four
elements -- duty of care, breach of duty,
causation, and damages
5
Duty of Care
6
The duty of care means that the defendant was
legally obligated to do everything reasonably
possible to prevent harm to the victim
7
By way of illustration
A motorist operating a vehicle on a public
roadway owes a duty of care to everyone else on
the roadway.
A business owner owes a duty of care to members
of the public who enter the business.
8
By way of illustration
A restaurant owner owes a duty of care to the
customers who eat in the restaurant.
A vehicle manufacturer owes a duty of care to the
customers who purchase the vehicles.
9
Breach of Duty of Care
10
Whether or not a breach of the duty of care
occurred is very fact specific
11
Relationship between defendant and victim is
important
12
The level of care required under the law can
fluctuate
13
Test for a breach can be objective Did the
defendant knowingly breach the duty of care?
14
Test can also be subjective If the defendant
should have known that the defendants conduct
placed the victim at risk of harm the duty of
care was breached
15
A drunk driver is an example of a clear breach of
the duty of care
16
Causation and Damages
17
It must be proven that the defendants breach of
duty caused the victims injuries
18
The question used to determine causation is often
But for the defendants action would the victim
have been injured?
19
Damages refers to the harm done to the victim
20
In a personal injury lawsuit a victim usually
claims both economic and non-economic damages
21
LEARN MORE ABOUT NEGLIGENCE IN SAN DIEGO,
CALIFORNIA
22
www.martinezschill.com
Content provided by Best Legal Practices