Negligence is a term that can sound lofty and academic, but its effects have an immediate impact that hits tragically close to home. Any time someone acts negligently, including a person or a business, they put the safety and the very lives of others at risk.
When negligence results in a serious personal injury or death, the negligent party can be held accountable for all the suffering and financial losses they have caused. A negligence lawyer can represent the injury victim, helping them document their accident, establish key evidence, and seek the maximum compensation available for all damages.
Let CEO Lawyer Ali Awad and his experienced injury attorney team help you after you and your family have been affected by negligence. We are client-focused and have a mission to help those with limited access to legal resources. Our reputation has been built on seeking compensation fast from all available sources, getting you back to your life more quickly.
Contact our injury and accident attorneys online or call [phone] today to schedule your free case review and find out why so many trust the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm to fight for them when they need it most.
What Is Negligence?
Negligence is a broad legal term that comes down to one statement: someone did something they shouldn’t have, and it led to someone else getting hurt.
More specifically, negligence involves four main parts: duty of care, breach of duty, direct causation, and damages.
Duty of Care
A duty of care is a specific duty meant to help protect the health, safety, and property of others. We all have a duty to obey the law and act in a reasonably safe manner. Property owners have a duty to inspect their property, maintain it, and remove hazards to the extent possible. Businesses, property owners, and product manufacturers have a duty to warn customers and others at-risk of any dangers posed by their own actions. Professionals have further duties, as defined by specific regulations as well as professional standards and guidelines set for their specific industry.
Breach of Duty of Care
A breach occurs any time someone fails to uphold their duty of care. They may commit specific actions that break the law, such as driving while intoxicated. They may also fail to perform an action that would have otherwise kept someone from getting injured, such as by failing to wind up a hose after performing lawn maintenance at a rental property.
Proximate Cause
In a negligence case, the at-fault party’s breach in their duty of care must be the most direct or “proximate” cause of the plaintiff’s injury. In other words, the plaintiff has to be prepared to prove that their injury was directly caused by a specific breach in a duty of care. It may be possible in some situations for a breach to exist and an injury to occur, but neither are connected. To concretely prove liability, your negligence attorney must make that direct link.
Damages
Damages are any losses suffered by the injury victim because of the at-fault party’s breach in their duty of care. Categories of damages include special damages, which add up all the monetary costs of the injury, such as the cost of needed medical care. A damages award can also include non-monetary general damages, such as the victim’s pain and suffering. All types of damages must be able to be recovered through the legal system — or, in many cases, through an insurance claim — in order for the negligent party to be liable for them.
Common Types of Cases a Negligence Attorney Handles
Below are some of the most common types of personal injury law cases involving negligence.
Road Accidents
Car accidents, truck accidents, pedestrian accidents, bicycle accidents, and other traffic-related incidents are leading causes of injury and death in the United States. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), motor vehicle crashes are one of the primary causes of death, costing over 100 lives each day. The NHTSA reports that driver actions are the most immediate cause of a crash in 94% of cases. Most of these crashes involve some sort of driver error, or negligence, including distracted driving, reckless driving, drowsy driving, speeding, illegal maneuvers, and performance errors.
Injuries on Property
Injuries that occur on public, private, or government properties all pose the risk of serious medical consequences, including death. One of the most common scenarios for these cases is that the victim will slip or trip and then fall, getting hurt in the process. Falls are often caused by carelessness, a failure to properly maintain the property, a failure to warn, a failure to address hazards, or a failure to remain in compliance with laws, codes, ordinances, and regulations. Injuries on a property can also occur because of falling objects, structural collapse, trapped between/against incidents, and environmental hazards like electricity.
Medical Malpractice
Medical malpractice is a specific type of negligence committed by a healthcare provider, typically a physician. Care providers are expected to uphold their general duties of care and follow professional standards of care as they treat each patient. Deviations in the standard of care can result in injuries like misdiagnosis, wrong-side surgery, drug interactions, surgical accidents, or patient neglect.
Professional Negligence
Medical malpractice is not the only form of professional negligence that can cause serious harm. Any time a professional cuts corners or fails to uphold their duty of care, injuries and death can result. A construction contractor may build an unsafe building, for example, or a cleaning crew may release toxic chemicals into a workplace. Any injury caused by a failure to uphold professional duties can lead to negligence claims and possible compensation for all victims. Professional negligence can also involve economic injury rather than personal medical injury, such as a landscaping crew that causes a basement to flood and a home to collapse.
What Damages Can Be Sought in a Negligence Case?
Damages vary according to each particular case. Some of the most common types of damages include the following:
Medical Bills
All medical bills, past, and future, should be covered by a negligence settlement or court award. That includes the costs of ambulance transport, emergency care, hospital stays, diagnostics, tests, medications, nursing care, specialist care, and all other reasonable and necessary procedures or expenses.
Many injury victims who lack legal representation fail to account for the future costs they will encounter, too. These costs include follow-up appointments, rehabilitation, and the impact of secondary medical conditions directly caused by the initial injury.
Lost Wages
Lost wages collectively refer to all income lost by the injury victim. Any income the injury victim loses out on because of their injury is claimable in a personal injury case. That includes situations where the sufferer must use their accrued sick days or vacation days.
A lost wages claim also includes situations where the injury victim can earn income but at a diminished capacity compared to before the accident. In cases of a permanent reduction in earnings potential, the victim may be compensated for their future losses as well as the costs of training to enter a replacement career.
Out of Pocket Expenses
Typical expenses related to negligence include the costs of transportation to medical appointments, the costs of over-the-counter medical devices, rental car costs, and other reasonable and necessary purchases.
Replacement Domestic Services
In situations where the injury victim provided domestic services for themselves or their household, claimants may be able to seek reasonable compensation to replace these services. Examples include the costs of paying a laundromat to wash clothes or the costs of a housekeeper cleaning the home a few times a week.
Pain and Suffering and Other General Damages
The pain and suffering injury victims have experienced as a direct result of the at-fault party’s negligence can be claimed in a settlement or lawsuit. This pain can be quantified by an inability to perform or enjoy certain activities the individual once did, up to and including situations where they were temporarily or permanently paralyzed.
Loss of enjoyment of life can be a separate claim or a component of pain and suffering. Other general damage awards may include compensation for mental anguish and loss of consortium or an ability to enjoy relationships with family and spouses as before.
Property Damages
In cases where negligence leads to property damage, the costs of repairing or replacing the property could be recouped through a negligence claim. A common example is the repair of a vehicle damaged in a car accident. Some negligence cases may involve property damage only scenarios, too, where the negligence led to a loss of property or significant calculable damage to property.
Fight for Your Right to Seek Compensation After You Are Affected by Negligence With a Negligence Lawyer
Attorney Ali Awad and his team of experienced negligence attorneys at the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm are prepared to do whatever it takes to raise your case’s chances of success. We have familiarity with negligence laws and prior case outcomes in multiple states, and we are prepared to come to you to help you recover after your accident.
Most importantly, all of our services are provided at no up-front cost to you. We only get paid if we can successfully recover money for your damages. That means there’s no risk to seeking our help, and people of all income levels can get the legal assistance they need. We fight for the little guy and stand up to big insurers, big corporations, and big private interests.
Find out how our team can help you recover from your accident caused by someone else’s negligence during a 100% free, confidential, no-risk case review. Schedule your free appointment with a negligence attorney now when you contact us using our convenient online form or call [phone].
