What is Personal Injury Law?
Personal injury law allows injured victims to hold at-fault parties liable for their losses. If a party harms another person, the victim can file a civil lawsuit to recover economic and non-economic damages caused by the incident.
These laws exist to make a victim “whole” again after someone injures them. They also allow accident victims to hold at-fault defendants responsible for their careless, reckless, or intentional actions.
Personal injury cases can be based on negligent acts, intentional conduct, or strict liability. However, most personal injury cases involve negligence – or failing to use reasonable care and injuring another person. “Reasonable care” will depend on what an ordinarily prudent person would have done under similar circumstances.
Negligence can result from an act or omission and consists of four elements:
– The defendant owed the plaintiff a duty of care, which can arise by law or the relationship between the parties (e.g., all motorists have a duty to follow traffic laws and drive cautiously; a doctor has a duty to provide a certain level of care to their patients);
– The defendant breached their duty of care by failing to act as a reasonable person would under the circumstances;
– The defendant’s breach directly caused harm to the plaintiff (causation); and
– The plaintiff suffered damages as a result.
In a personal injury case, the plaintiff has the burden of proving these elements by a preponderance of the evidence. This simply means that the plaintiff must prove that there is a greater than 50% probability that their claims are valid. Our St. Louis personal injury lawyers will help gather the evidence needed to prove the elements of your case.