If you look at the personal injury legal niche, then you will see certain patterns begin to emerge in terms of themes that come up at trial. For instance, a lawyer for the plaintiff might bring up the breach of duty concept often. They will do so because it usually figures heavily into whether the jury feels that the defendant should give the plaintiff any money.
Proving breach of duty can help win your lawsuit, but not everyone understands it when they’re going into a personal injury case, especially if they don’t have a background in this area of the law. That’s why we’ll take a moment to break down what breach of duty means in personal injury law right now. If you’re planning to sue a person or entity soon who you allege harmed you, then you should know all about this concept.
What Does Breach of Duty Mean?
First, let’s define the breach of duty term so we can be sure that you know what we mean when we use it. Breach of duty essentially means that someone should act with a certain degree of care in a given situation, but they don’t do so. By not acting with the care that the situation demanded, they injured someone or caused their illness.
In other words, in breach of duty cases, the plaintiff and their lawyer usually allege that the defendant had a clear duty of care toward the plaintiff. Societal convention dictated that the defendant should have reasonably acted or not acted in a certain way. If they took action or didn’t act, and that harmed the plaintiff, then a jury should hold them liable financially.
Duty of care and breach of duty typically go together in civil lawsuits. If the plaintiff and their lawyer explain how duty of care existed, and the jury agrees, then they are one step closer to getting a settlement offer from the defendant or a jury’s verdict in the favor of the plaintiff.
If breach of duty occurs, then the plaintiff and their lawyer allege that the action or inaction of the defendant didn’t meet the minimum of care that a reasonable person would normally exercise in that same situation.
Some Examples of Breach of Duty
For instance, let us say that you have a personal injury lawsuit where the defendant hit the plaintiff’s car. They damaged the vehicle badly and injured the plaintiff.
The defendant exceeded the posted speed limit by quite a bit. If the plaintiff and their lawyer can prove that, then they can claim that the defendant’s actions constituted a breach of duty, and the defendant should have to pay economic and possibly non-economic damages as a result.
If a business owner did not maintain their property correctly, and the plaintiff slipped and fell because of that, the plaintiff and their lawyer can claim a breach of duty in that situation as well. They can also claim a breach of duty if a doctor didn’t diagnose a patient’s condition correctly, and their health subsequently deteriorated.
You can probably think of many more civil cases where the plaintiff and their lawyer can state the defendant had a duty of care to the plaintiff that they breached.
How Can You Prove Breach of Duty?
If you can prove breach of duty in court as the plaintiff in a civil trial or if your lawyer can do it for you, then you should walk away with some money in most instances. However, proving breach of duty can prove tricky sometimes if it’s just your word verses that of the defendant.
If you and your lawyer can gather a good deal of evidence, though, you have a strong chance of proving breach of duty. For instance, maybe you can produce a police car accident report that states the defendant clearly exceeded the speed limit when they ran into your vehicle. If the police car accident report states that the defendant exceeded the speed by at least 20 miles per hour, that’s recklessness, and it is easy enough to claim breach of duty in such a case.
In the situation where you slipped the fell in an establishment as a plaintiff, you might put an eyewitness on the stand who saw you fall and hurt yourself, and they can testify that there was a wet floor on which you slipped. They can also say that they saw no signs up that mentioned danger.
In the medical malpractice lawsuit where you’re claiming that a doctor didn’t diagnose you correctly, you might call an expert witness to the stand. If they know the medical field, they can say that your symptoms made it obvious that you had a certain condition. Because of the doctor’s incompetence, though, they didn’t diagnose you correctly, and your condition worsened as a result.
Any time you have conclusive evidence that establishes the defendant should have acted in a certain way, and they didn’t, you will get much closer to winning your case.
What Happens When You Prove Breach of Duty?
Let’s say you take several major steps toward proving breach of duty. You might produce documentation that establishes it. Your lawyer may call eyewitnesses and expert witnesses to the stand.
If it’s obvious that the trial’s going against the defendant, and you’ve conclusively established breach of duty on their part, then they will probably halt the trial to offer you a settlement. They will often do so if their lawyer recommends it.
If you don’t feel like the defendant offered you enough money, then you might give them a counteroffer. If they don’t agree to it, then you can keep going till you get to a jury’s decision.
Usually, though, these kinds of personal injury cases end in a settlement. It’s pretty rare that a defendant will take the risk of a jury’s verdict, since that could mean they have to pay you much more than they anticipated.
