Table Of Contents
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Understanding Negligence
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Negligence is the failure to exercise the care that a reasonably prudent person would have exercised in the same or similar situation. Negligence generally means that a person was careless or did something they should not have done. An example of negligence would be violating a stop sign while driving, failing to yield, driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol or driving on the wrong sign of the road.
Defining Negligence In Personal Injury Law
Negligence is sometimes defined in more simple terms as an accident. A common example of negligence would be a rear-end collision where the front of one person’s car strikes the rear of another. In this simple case as the Plaintiff, the person that is injured and suing, Cantor Injury Law argues that the defendant was negligent in allowing the front of the vehicle to run into the back of Plaintiff’s vehicle and thereby caused injury.
The term negligence is used in every personal injury case. The definition of negligence changes depending on the facts. There is a different definition for negligence for automobile collisions, where the definition of reasonable care is the highest degree of care, as opposed to medical malpractice cases where the definition is defined as conduct that violates the standard of care for that particular medical practice area. There is yet another definition of negligence for product liability, for slip and falls and the like.
If you have a claim or injury arising out of negligence, Cantor Injury Law, LLC can help.
Key Takeaways
- Negligence means someone failed to use the care a reasonably careful person would use in the same situation.
- A rear-end collision is a common, straightforward example of negligence in a personal injury case.
- The legal definition of “reasonable care” shifts depending on the case type — car accidents use a higher standard than some other claims.
- Medical malpractice and product liability cases each apply their own version of the negligence standard.
- Negligence is the foundation of nearly every personal injury claim Cantor Injury Law handles.
