When another person causes you injury because they acted outside their owed duty of care, that’s considered negligence, and proving it may be crucial to your personal injury lawsuit in Pennsylvania.
Negligence is present when another party breaches the duty of care they owe to a victim, causing a victim injury or other damages. Most people owe one another a duty of care in some capacity, including drivers, medical professionals, property owners, manufacturers, employers, and others. Acting outside of one’s scope of duty of care might result in an accident that causes a victim injury in Pennsylvania. Contact our attorneys if you were injured or sustained other damages because of another person’s negligence. Our lawyers can help you file a personal injury lawsuit for compensation in Pennsylvania.
We’re here to help victims throughout Pennsylvania hold negligent parties accountable. For a free and confidential case evaluation with the Pennsylvania personal injury lawyers at The Reiff Law Firm, call today at (215) 709-6940.
What Constitutes Negligence in a Personal Injury Case in Pennsylvania?
Negligence is a crucial aspect of any personal injury case. Without it, there’s no connection between a defendant’s actions and your injuries. But what exactly is negligence? For clarification, reach out to our attorneys.
To successfully sue a person in a personal injury lawsuit in Pennsylvania, they have to have acted negligently. But what does this mean? To put it plainly, most people owe others a duty of care in some capacity based on the circumstances of what’s happening or their relationship with the other people. For example…
- Drivers owe others on the road a duty of care to heed traffic laws and drive carefully.
- Doctors owe their patients a duty of care to act according to medical guidelines and procedures.
- Manufacturers owe a duty of care to their customers to inform them of a product’s potential dangers and ensure a product is not defective.
- Property owners owe a duty of care to those that enter their property to maintain a safe environment. Employers owe a duty of care to their workers as well.
A breach in any of these duties of care – accidental or otherwise – is considered negligent.
Thus negligence is the failure to act reasonably or to act in breach of one’s duty of care owed to another person, causing damages or injuries to a victim. Contact our Philadelphia personal injury lawyers for clarification if you still have difficulty understanding what negligence is and how it applies to your case.
How Can You Prove Negligence in Your Pennsylvania Personal Injury Case?
In order to recover compensation against a defendant in a personal injury case in Pennsylvania, you must prove that they acted negligently. Our attorneys can gather the necessary evidence to prove negligence and a defendant’s fault for your injuries.
There are four crucial aspects of any personal injury case in Pennsylvania. To be successful in your lawsuit, you must prove the following:
- The defendant owed you a duty of care
- The defendant breached their owed duty of care
- You sustained injuries as a result of the defendant’s breach
- Your injuries caused you damages
To prove negligence, you have to prove how a defendant breached their the duty of care. To accomplish this, our attorneys will begin investigating your case right away. Depending on the cause of your injuries, the evidence used to prove negligence may differ. Security camera footage may clearly show a defendant’s negligence in some cases. In other cases, our Bucks County personal injury lawyers may use other evidence, such as photographs, eyewitness statements, correspondence with a defendant, and medical records, to prove both negligence and fault.
If you can’t prove that a defendant acted negligently, you may be unable to recover compensatory damages in Pennsylvania. That is why it is important to contact our attorneys immediately after an accident that results in injury in Pennsylvania.
What is Comparative Negligence in a Pennsylvania Personal Injury Case?
While establishing a defendant’s negligence in a personal injury case in Pennsylvania is important, so is proving that a victim did not also act negligently. Comparative negligence might impact your case, which is why contacting our attorneys is important.
Pennsylvania is a modified comparative fault state with a “51% bar.” With modified comparative negligence, a victim who also acted negligently, thus contributing to their injuries, may have their compensation reduced. A “51% bar” means that if you shared more than 50% fault, you cannot recover compensation at all.
If a victim is unaware of comparative negligence rules and proceeds with litigation against an at-fault party without help from our attorneys, they may be surprised at the outcome. Our Delaware County personal injury lawyers can anticipate how comparative fault laws might impact your case and challenge any of the defendant’s claims that you contributed to your injuries.
What Should You Do if Your Injuries Were Caused by Negligence in Pennsylvania?
If you were recently injured in an accident caused by another party’s negligence in Pennsylvania, contact our lawyers. Our attorneys can help you recover compensation by filing a personal injury lawsuit against a negligent party in Pennsylvania.
You shouldn’t have to foot the bill when someone else’s negligence causes your injuries. Our attorneys can help you bring a personal injury case against a negligent party within Pennsylvania’s two-year statute of limitations.
It is important to act quickly and contact our lawyers right away, even though you may have two years to sue. Waiting to file a lawsuit might negatively impact your case, despite a defendant’s negligence.
Victims can recover considerable compensation in personal injury claims brought on the basis of negligence. By filing a lawsuit against a negligent party, you may be able to recover both economic and non-economic damages with help from our personal injury lawyers in Pennsylvania.
Call Our Personal Injury Lawyers About Your Pennsylvania Case Today
If you were recently injured because of another party’s negligence, our attorneys can help. For a free and confidential case evaluation with the Lehigh County personal injury lawyers at The Reiff Law Firm, call today at (215) 709-6940.
