Personal Injury: Negligence per se Lawsuits

Posted in Accident & Injury on September 18, 2013

 

Personal injury lawsuits are usually based on negligence. In a negligence claim, the plaintiff alleges that the defendant failed to use ordinary care.

In order to prove negligence, you attorney must prove four basic elements:

1)      The existence of a duty owed to one person by another

2)      The failure of a person to fulfill this duty

3)      Injury

4)      The injury must be caused by the failure of one person to fulfill his/her duty to another

Another type of claim involves concept referred to as negligence per se. Very simply, this is when the party was negligent not just due to being careless but because he or she broke a law.

For example, if a driver of another vehicle didn’t see you about to make a turn and hits you, they were negligent. They are at fault because they did not exercise ordinary care while operating their vehicle. Now let’s say that same driver blew through a red light and that caused your accident. This is a clear violation of the law and falls in the category of negligence per se.

You may be wondering how this would affect your case. Well, negligence per se is much easier to prove. It is far easier to show a jury that the driver ran the light than to prove he was careless using all four elements of simple negligence.

Negligence per se comes into effect any time someone violates a traffic or safety related law and caused someone else harm. If you have been injured according to negligence per se rules, it is in your best interest to contact an attorney immediately. You may be able to recover losses for your injuries under negligence per se theory.

To learn more about personal injury law, I encourage you to watch the video above and to explore our educational website at elkandelk.com. If you have legal questions, please call us at 1-800-ELK-OHIO. I welcome your call.

– Ryan M. Harrell