What Is Negligence, and How Does It Impact Your Personal Injury Claim?

What is negligence? You’ve probably heard the term before, but you may not have understood it.

Under tort law, three primary types of actions result in personal injury: strict liability, intentional action, and negligence. Most personal injury cases involve the latter.

If you suffered an injury due to a car accident, a slip and fall at a grocery store, or a dog bite, your case most likely falls under the category of negligence. This means that the success of your claim will rely on proving that another person’s negligent actions caused your injuries.

What Is Negligence?

Negligence is a legal term that can be defined as a failure to behave with the basic degree of care that a reasonable person would have exercised in a similar situation.

In other words, when an individual or entity is found negligent, it means they failed to act with proper care, whether through their actions or inaction. As a consequence, they may be financially responsible for the harm that their behavior caused.

The Four Elements of a Negligence Claim

To successfully pursue a personal injury claim based on negligence, the plaintiff must prove the following four elements:

Duty of Care

This is the first element that must be established in any personal injury case. Did the defendant owe the plaintiff a legal duty to consider their well-being?

In some personal injury cases, including those involving vehicle accidents, duty of care is often simple enough to prove — a driver has a clear duty of care to other motorists and pedestrians. However, showing that this duty existed can be challenging with other types of cases, such as those related to premise liability.

Breach of Duty

The second element requires showing how the defendant breached their duty of care to the plaintiff through their actions or inaction. For example, the majority of drivers exercise reasonable care, understanding that violating traffic laws can put other drivers at risk. Those who don’t tend to cause accidents.

Causation

Next, the plaintiff must prove that the defendant's negligence caused the accident. This is known as “causation in fact,” meaning that the victim wouldn’t have suffered injuries if it hadn’t been for the plaintiff’s negligence.

Additionally, the plaintiff must establish that the defendant's negligence was the foreseeable cause of their injuries, which is known as “proximate causation.”

Actual Harm of Loss

The final element of a negligence case involves demonstrating that the defendant's actions or inaction caused actual harm or loss. This could mean bodily injuries, or it could mean monetary losses like lost wages or property damage.

Common Examples of Negligence in Personal Injury Cases

Accidents resulting from negligence are an unfortunate part of everyday life. They can happen while you’re driving, receiving medical care, vacationing, or even walking around your own neighborhood.

Here are a few examples of negligence in personal injury cases:

Motor Vehicle Crashes

Approximately 127,597 motor vehicle crashes occurred on Virginia roadways in 2023, with 63,876 causing injuries and 907 resulting in fatalities. Negligence was behind many of these crashes — a driver was texting, talking on a phone, speeding, running a red light, or operating the vehicle under the influence.

Medical Malpractice

By some estimates, medical errors are responsible for more than 250,000 deaths per year. Common mistakes made due to negligence include patients being given too little or too much anesthesia, misinterpretations of medical imaging, incorrect diagnoses, and procedures being performed on the wrong patient or body part.

Medical practitioners owe their patients a duty of care. When a physician performs surgery on you or prescribes you a medication, your life is quite literally in their hands.

Premises Liability

Property owners have a duty to maintain their premises to minimize the risk of injury to visitors. This applies to properties owned by individuals, businesses, and governments.

Negligence-related premises accidents can stem from unfenced swimming pools, poorly maintained flooring, unsecured carpeting, and snow or ice being allowed to accumulate on sidewalks.

The Impact of Negligence on Compensation

Negligence is central to most personal injury cases. The burden is on the victim to prove that another party’s failure to act resulted in their injuries or other losses.

If the evidence clearly shows that you were harmed due to negligence, you’re entitled to seek compensation for your medical expenses, missed work, pain and suffering, property damage, and other related expenses.

To argue negligence in Virginia, you must prove that the other party was 100% responsible for the accident that led to your injuries.

Most states have comparative negligence laws, which allow injury victims to seek compensation even if they contributed to their accidents. In some states, a victim can be up to 99% at fault and still receive compensation for the portion of fault assigned to the defendant.

However, Virginia has a strict contributory negligence system in which injury victims are ineligible to seek compensation if they’re responsible by any degree. If you were as much as 1% to blame, you don’t have a case.

FAQ

Do I Need a Lawyer to Prove Negligence?

While you don’t necessarily need a personal injury lawyer to prove negligence, it may be challenging to do on your own without a legal background. An attorney can investigate your accident and gather and preserve the evidence needed to prove negligence.

What Type of Evidence Proves Negligence?

Evidence of negligence typically includes police or accident reports, photos or videos from the scene, eyewitness and expert witness testimony, medical records, and pay stubs.

What Is Virginia’s Statute of Limitations for a Personal Injury Case?

In Virginia, injury victims have up to two years to file a claim for compensation.

Seek Justice and Fair Compensation for Your Injuries

If you’ve been hurt in an accident that wasn’t your fault, contact Commonwealth Law to schedule a consultation with an experienced personal injury attorney. We’ll review your case and explain your rights and options.