What is Negligence?
If you’ve been injured due to someone else’s actions or inactions, you may be entitled to compensation. However, to hold the responsible party accountable, you must prove that they were negligent. So, what is negligence?
The Florida Bar defines negligence as “the failure to use reasonable care, which is the case that a reasonably careful person would use under like circumstances.” To ensure you have a better chance of winning your injury case, it’s important that you understand negligence and how to prove it in the state of Florida.
What Does it Mean When Someone is Negligent?
Negligence happens when someone fails to act with the care a reasonable person would in the same situation. A reasonable person isn’t a specific person, but rather a standard that judges and jurors use to decide if someone’s actions, or lack thereof, were appropriate given the circumstances. In other words, they ask, “Would an average, sensible person have taken extra steps to prevent harm?”
In our day-to-day lives, most of us rely on judgment and common sense to protect ourselves and others. In a legal context, if someone ignores those precautions and their inaction leads to an accident or injury, they may be considered negligent. This baseline of behavior that everyone is expected to follow ensures that if someone’s carelessness results in harm, they can be held accountable for it.
Examples of Negligence
Negligence can be split into two types: ordinary negligence and gross negligence. Ordinary negligence is when someone fails to take the level of care that a reasonable person would, while gross negligence is when someone acts with complete disregard for safety.
Regardless of the type, negligence can occur in many different scenarios. Here are a few common examples:
- Car Accidents: A distracted or speeding driver who causes a collision is a common example of negligence. Carelessness behind the wheel can result in serious injuries.
- Slip and Fall Accidents: When a business fails to clean up spills or fix broken steps, it creates a hazard. A slip and fall lawyer can help prove that the lack of proper maintenance led to the plaintiff’s injury.
- Medical Malpractice: Healthcare professionals are expected to follow established standards of care. When a doctor misdiagnoses or makes a surgical error, it can be seen as negligence and have severe consequences for the patient.
- Property Damage: Careless actions, like leaving equipment unsecured or neglecting needed repairs, can cause damage to someone else’s property.
What Are the Elements of Negligence Claims?
In order to recover damages in a personal injury case, you must prove the four elements of negligence: duty of care, breach of duty of care, causation, and damages. These elements must be proven with sufficient evidence to hold the responsible party accountable. If even one element is missing, the case may not be successful. Here’s a breakdown of each element.
Duty of Care
Duty of care is a legal obligation that requires individuals and businesses to act in ways that protect others from foreseeable harm. In a negligence case, you must show that the defendant had a responsibility to ensure safety and prevent injury.
For example, consider your local grocery store. The store management is expected to maintain a safe environment for its customers. If a spill happens in an aisle, the store has a duty of care to clean it up or warn shoppers about the hazard. If they fail to do so and a customer slips and falls, this is a breach of their duty of care.
Breach of Duty of Care
To establish a breach, you need to show that the defendant did or failed to do what a reasonable person would have done under similar circumstances. If it’s determined that the defendant had a duty of care and that their failure to exercise reasonable care directly caused your injuries, they will likely be held liable for your damages.
In some personal injury cases, you may hear of the term negligence per se. Negligence per se is when a defendant violates a statute or regulation that is specifically in place to protect a certain group of people, and the injured party belongs to that group. In those cases, the statutory violation can act as direct evidence of a breach of duty of care.
Causation
To prove a negligence case, you need to show a connection between the defendant’s actions and the injury you suffered. This means proving that if the defendant had acted responsibly, the injury would not have happened.
Causation also requires that the injury was a foreseeable consequence of the defendant’s actions, which is called proximate cause. For example, let’s say a Gainesville contractor fails to properly secure scaffolding on a construction site. If the scaffolding falls and injures a passerby, the contractor’s failure to secure the scaffolding would be directly linked to the injury, thus proving causation.
Damages
In a negligence case, damages are the monetary compensation you may receive to make up for the harm caused by someone’s carelessness. These damages are meant to compensate for the direct financial losses you incur and the intangible impacts on your life. They fall into two categories: economic and non-economic damages.
Economic damages cover the concrete, measurable expenses that come directly from your injury. These are the out-of-pocket costs and losses that can be calculated and include:
- Medical bills and treatment costs
- Lost wages and reduced earning capacity
- Rehabilitation or therapy expenses
- Damage to personal property, such as vehicles or personal belongings
Alternatively, non-economic damages account for non-monetary losses. These damages address the pain, suffering, and changes in your quality of life that follow an injury. Examples include:
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress or mental anguish
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- The overall impact on your quality of life and personal relationships
Negligence Laws in Florida
Florida follows what’s known as modified comparative negligence under statute 768.81. This law basically says that if you, as the claimant, are found to be partially responsible for your own injury, the amount of damages you can receive will be reduced based on the percentage of fault attributed to you. So, if you’re found to be 35% at fault for the incident, your compensation is reduced by that same percentage.
However, if a party is found to be more than 50% responsible for their own injury and is the primary cause of the accident, they cannot recover any damages at all. This does not apply to medical malpractice cases, which are governed separately under Chapter 766.
What is the Deadline for Filing a Negligence Claim in Florida?
If you believe you have a negligence case, you’ll want to file a claim as soon as possible in accordance with the state’s statute of limitations. In Florida, you have two years from the date of your accident to file a personal injury lawsuit per statute 95.11.
Failure to exercise your right to file your case after the deadline could result in the court refusing your claim outright, or reducing the compensation you might otherwise receive, even if you have strong evidence of negligence.
Contact Our Gainesville Personal Injury Lawyers for a Free Consultation
Knowing what negligence is can help you better understand your rights and the options that are available to you after an injury. From establishing the four elements of negligence to knowing the ins and outs of Florida’s negligence laws, the personal injury lawyers at Fine, Farkash & Parlapiano, P.A. are committed to ensuring that when someone’s carelessness causes you harm, they are held accountable.
We’re more than just your lawyers. We’re your neighbors in Gainesville who care about your well-being. If you or a loved one has been injured due to someone’s negligence, reach out to us for a free consultation, and let us give you the answers and information you need to protect your rights.
Sources:
Civil Jury Instructions – The Florida Bar
Reasonable Person – Cornell Law School
negligence per se – Cornell Law School
768.81 Comparative fault. – The Florida Legislature
95.11 Limitations other than for the recovery of real property. – The Florida Legislature
Mr. Fine was born in New York, New York, and was raised in the northeast, where he studied sociology at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. He then graduated with honors from the University of Florida Levin College of Law in 1976. In law school, he was a member of Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, was inducted into the Order of the Coif, and graduated in the top 10 percent of his class. Mr. Fine was admitted into the Florida Bar in 1976, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida in 1977, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida in 1991, and the United States Court of Appeals 11th Circuit in 1982.