The legal minefield of personal injury law is an area best navigated with the help of professional personal injury lawyers. Many people wish to claim compensation after they have suffered a psychological or physical injury due to the negligence of others. Once you have claimed compensation you can then use the money to cover any financial losses you have obtained as a direct result of the injuries, including medical costs or loss of income.
However, before you can take your case to court with your personal injury lawyer you need to be able to prove that the person responsible for your accident had a duty of care to protect you from any risks that may have led to your injuries. In order to do this, you will be required to identify three major elements of your accident, all of which must be backed up with evidence to ensure you can make a claim.
Duty of Care
To make a compensation claim you must be able to prove that the person responsible for your injuries had a duty of care to protect you from any harm. The majority of personal injury cases are based on a breach of duty of care by a responsible party, and therefore this element must be supported with evidence to progress with your personal injury compensation claim. A duty of care is already implied with cases such as medical negligence, where any party that makes up your medical team will be responsible for your health and well being. However, in cases involving more general accidents you may require significant evidence to support your claim.
Breach of Duty
Once you have enough evidence to back up your duty of care, you are then in a position to prove that this duty of care was breached by the party in question. This is the process in which the victim will prove the negligence of the other party, which will in turn prove that they have caused the suffering of the injured party. Proving negligence requires the claimant to provide evidence that the party holding duty of care failed to provide the level of care that any reasonable person would provide in similar circumstances. Victims are also liable to prove that the actions that caused the injuries were voluntary and could have caused injuries to others under similar circumstances.
Causation
Once you have provided support of breach of duty of care, victims must then demonstrate that the negligence of the party responsible was the direct cause of the injuries in question. Often, victims can suffer injuries due to a prior injury or ailment that has left them predisposed. If this is the case, you are likely to receive a reduced amount of compensation, or in some instances no compensation at all. However, if you can prove that your injuries and suffering were a direct result of negligence then you could be entitled to claim thousands of pounds worth of compensation from those responsible