Duty of care is a key element in personal injury cases as it relates to negligence. It is a legal obligation to act in a reasonable manner to prevent harm to other people. To have a valid case and pursue compensation for your injury, you must be able to prove that the other side owed you a duty of care.
A Windsor personal injury lawyer from our firm is ready to review your circumstances and discuss how duty of care applies to your situation in a free consultation.
What Exactly is a “Duty of Care”?
Individuals have an essential duty to act reasonably to prevent injury to others at any time. If a person fails to uphold this duty of care, he or she could be held legally liable for harm done to someone else. This is a core principle of personal injury law.
This duty of care applies to everyone in most instances. The law outlines the appropriate standard of care in a given situation. For instance, certain professionals may owe a different duty of care than others. A medical professional may have a higher duty of care than expected of the average person.
- Doctors owe patients a duty of care to provide adequate care and treatment that another doctor with similar education, training and background would have done in the same situation.
- Property owners owe guests a duty of care to ensure the premise is safe and free from hazards.
- Airline pilots and bus operators owe passengers a duty of care to act in a reasonable manner to keep them safe and protected while traveling to and from their destinations.
Examples When a Duty of Care is Violated
When an individual fails to uphold his or her duty of care to someone else, this violation is known as a breach of duty of care. Examples of this breached duty of care include as follows:
- A pedestrian is hit by car. The driver of the vehicle who caused the crash may have breached the duty of care owed to the pedestrian by driving distracted or speeding through an intersection.
- A nursing home resident gets bedsores. A staff member at the facility may be liable if he or she failed to check on the resident and make sure the resident was rotated constantly to avoid harm.
- A visitor slips and falls on another’s property. The property owner may have breached the duty of care by failing to warn the visitor of any known hazards or not fixing the issue within reason.
- A consumer suffers an injury while using a product. The manufacturer of the product may be liable if the product was defectively manufactured or designed.
How Negligence Plays a Factor in Injury Cases
To have a viable case for compensation, you must prove that negligence played a role in the accident and your injuries. This means establishing the four elements of negligence: a duty of care existed between the involved parties, the duty of care was breached, and that breach directly caused your injury and resulted in you suffering damages, such as medical bills and loss of wages.
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When someone’s negligence leads to another person suffering an injury, you may have the right to pursue compensation against the negligent party. Our firm has recovered millions in compensation for clients over the years. We are prepared to build a strong case on your behalf should we represent you.
Request a free, no-obligation consultation to get started. We charge no upfront fees for our legal services unless and until we help you obtain compensation for your injury and other related damages.
Call our lawyers at Greg Monforton & Partners today by calling (866) 320-4770.