How to Prove Negligence in an Accident Case
When you suffer injuries in an accident that was not your fault, you may believe you are eligible to receive a financial award for the hardships related to your injuries. Before you can receive the award, though, you must take the steps required to prove negligence in an accident case. Without proving that the other person or entity’s actions played a role in the injury accident through negligent or reckless behavior, you are not eligible to win a financial award.
If the assigning of fault for the accident is at all in doubt, you can assume the insurance company is going to try to show that its client did not behave in a negligent manner. It then may try to avoid paying you a full award amount or any amount. When you hire our personal injury attorneys to represent you, we will investigate the facts in the case to try to show negligence on the part of the other party, protecting your right to seek damages for the hardships related to your injuries.
Understanding Negligence
When applied in a personal injury situation, negligence is the concept that one person or entity behaved in a reckless or careless manner, leading to an accident that injured another person. When negligence is present, it means the party that caused the accident and your injuries could have taken different actions to prevent the accident and protect you.
For example, if you suffered injuries in a multi-car accident, our legal team could show negligence in your case by proving that the driver who caused the crash could have:
- Not been speeding before the crash
- Not been distracted by a smartphone
- Not been drinking before getting behind the wheel
- Not been aggressively and unsafely changing lanes.
All of these actions would represent choices the other driver made that were reckless or negligent. These actions did not need to happen, meaning the accident – and your injuries – did not need to happen.
If the other driver was following all the traffic laws and simply lost control because of icy roads before causing the multi-car pileup, negligence may not be present. The accident may simply be no one’s fault. More frequently, though, the facts in a car accident case allow our personal injury attorneys to investigate the case and find fault caused by negligence.
Why Negligence Plays a Role in Personal Injury Lawsuits
Negligence is key in a personal injury claim because we have to show that another person or entity was negligent in causing the accident and should financially compensate you for the hardships associated with your injuries. Without a finding of fault that includes negligent behavior, no one is liable for your injuries. We have no one to sue in the lawsuit without a finding of negligence.
What Factors Need to Be Present in a Finding of Negligence
In legal terms, four factors typically need to be present for our personal injury accident attorneys to prove that negligence occurred in the accident.
- Duty: The person who caused the accident must have a duty to keep you safe and free from injury. For example, other drivers have a duty to avoid causing crashes.
- Breach: We must show that the person who caused the accident failed in their duty of care by performing dangerous or reckless actions. Sometimes, even inaction can result in a breach, such as failing to fix a flat tire that causes the negligent driver to lose control and cause an accident.
- Causation: We must show that your injuries would not have occurred if the defendant had not committed the breach.
- Harm: We must show that your injuries led to financial harm for you that deserves compensation, such as through lost wages, medical bills, ongoing pain and suffering, or emotional distress.
When you hire our team to represent you, we go through the process of finding facts that show all four of these elements are present. If you are trying to represent yourself in your personal injury accident claim, it can be tough for you as the victim to prove these elements. You simply don’t have the experience or legal know-how to complete these steps, especially when the insurance company’s lawyers are trying to argue that negligence is not present.
Do I Need a Personal Injury Lawyer to Prove Negligence?
When you have a personal injury attorney on your side for your case, you can trust that we will work hard to determine liability in the accident, as well as negligence. Although you have the right to try to represent yourself in your personal injury case, what often happens is that the insurance company tries to take advantage of your lack of experience. It attempts to assign all or most of the negligence in the case to you.
When you have our personal injury law firm on your side, we counteract the efforts of the insurance company to find you negligent in the case. We have many years of collective experience on our team in performing the investigation required to show who is truly negligent in injury accident cases.
Finding Facts That Show Negligence Was Present
Should the insurance company try to claim that the defendant did not behave in a negligent manner and that the accident was no one’s fault, you have to be able to prove that negligence was present to have a chance at winning an injury award. When you hire our personal injury attorneys, we can find facts that show negligence was present in your case.
Insurance companies are free to interpret the facts of the case however they want, but this doesn’t mean that the insurer’s interpretation is correct or is the only potential outcome. When trying to counteract the insurer’s findings, though, it can be difficult for you to find facts that prove your assertion and to argue the case with the insurance company on your own. The experience of our team of personal injury attorneys allows us to handle this process of finding facts that show negligence in a smooth manner. We have proven techniques and a track record of success for using facts to convince the insurer to agree with our assertions regarding the presence of negligence.
Is Shared Negligence Possible in My Injury Case?
Through Minnesota statute 604.01, comparative fault – or shared negligence – is a possibility. Shared negligence simply means that both parties involved took actions that showed negligence and played a role in causing the accident. When this happens, the two sides attempt to determine the percentage that each party is at fault for the accident, whether it’s a 50/50 split, an 80/20 split, or some other percentage.
With a percentage determined, you receive a reduction in your award amount based on the percentage. If the two sides determine you are 20% at fault for the accident, you would receive 80% of the normal injury award amount versus what you would receive if you had no fault.
When personal injury lawyers are representing you, we work to determine who is at fault in the accident and the percentage of negligence to assign to each party. Ideally, if the facts in the case support it, we would help you prove that negligence in your accident case lies completely with the other party. We hope to use the facts to find that you have no fault in the accident. The negligent party then would be 100% at fault and fully liable for your injuries. This finding would maximize your potential financial award in the injury case.
If our findings of negligence in your accident case differ from what the insurance company finds, we then would undertake negotiations to determine whether a finding of shared negligence is appropriate. If we believe the facts in the case back up our assertion that the other party behaved in a negligent manner and is 100% at fault, you can trust us to fight tirelessly for the best possible outcome for you regarding the assignment of negligence and fault.
Trust Tyroler Leonard Injury Law to Help You Prove Negligence in Your Accident Case
When an accident occurs with no finding of negligence, you lose your ability to win a financial award in your personal injury lawsuit for your pain and suffering. Sometimes, accidents happen that are no one’s fault. If we cannot find facts in the accident investigation that help us figure out how to prove negligence in an accident case, your personal injury claim evaporates.
At Tyroler Leonard Injury Law, we understand that proving negligence in an injury case can take quite a bit of time and effort. Because we never cut corners when representing you and because we know you are counting on us to help you try to win the best possible injury award, we spend the time needed to try to prove negligence. We work tirelessly for you, no matter what it takes. We fight hard for our clients, and our customer reviews show that our clients appreciate our efforts and track record of success.
We are ready to begin working for you today. For a free case review, reach out to Tyroler Leonard Injury Law today at 651-259-1113. We can help both English- and Spanish-speaking clients.
Attorney Isaac Tyroler
Attorney Isaac Tyroler has been a strong advocate for injured people his entire legal career. He has a passion for righting wrongs, and he deeply cares about representing injured clients who may feel overwhelmed or uncertain about how to navigate the legal system. He is compassionate toward clients and aggressive with insurance companies and defendants. He is on the elected Board of Governors of the Minnesota Association of Justice (MAJ), the top personal injury lawyers’ group in Minnesota. And is currently the chair of MAJ’s legislative committee. [ Attorney Bio ]
