Guide to Personal Injury Cases

When you are injured as a result of someone else's actions, you should see an attorney. Generally, however, when an injury occurs, the law raises a few key questions:

Objective duty of care: Is it necessary for a person to take precautions to avoid hurting another person?

The law does not impose an absolute responsibility on everyone to protect others at all times. Therefore, some injuries are simply accidents, not court cases. The way the law begins to distinguish between injuries that are mere accidents and those that are torts is by asking “Did the person or entity that caused your injury has a“ duty ”to take some level of precaution to prevent you from being injured? injured? " Sometimes an injury is caused by someone who did not have an obligation to ensure the safety of the person who was injured. In these cases, there is no recovery of damages:

Example of cases where there is no duty of care and no right to recovery for injury damages: Person B's property has a lot of broken glass and is fenced off. If person A enters person B's property illegally, person B has no responsibility to care for person A. If A is injured by broken glass while on B's property, A cannot recover damages from B.

There are numerous levels of care that the law imposes on people. Usually, the duty is one of ordinary care, that is, the law requires that a person not be careless or negligent with respect to others. But there are also less stringent levels of care and more stringent levels of care:

Neglect: Neglect is the “daily duty of care” that exists in many situations. It is your duty to take reasonable precautions so that your actions do not put others at risk of injury. When the personal injury attorney seeks to determine whether someone was negligent, it asks, "Could a reasonable person foresee that their actions could cause injury in this particular situation?" This type of obligation requires people to repair dangerous conditions on your property or to warn of dangerous conditions that cannot or have not been fixed. It requires us to obey traffic laws and put out fires, as well as other reasonable everyday actions. If someone tells you some facts and your answer is “how careless!” Then there is probably negligence.

Recklessness: the duty not to act recklessly and regardless of whether your actions will put others at risk. This type of obligation is more difficult to prove than negligence and generally applies to police officers and firefighters who are responding to an emergency. Speeding and failing to stop at a red light would generally be considered carelessness or recklessness, but we allow police and firefighters to do so as long as they warn others that they are responding to an emergency.

Intention: One has a duty or obligation not to intentionally injure others when there is no justification for doing so. A person cannot go up to another person and hit them on the nose. A person cannot spread false rumors about another person for the purpose of hurting that person. However, you can punch another person on the nose if that person punched you or is threatening you with a knife.

Strict Liability - This duty imposes almost automatic liability if breached and results in injury.

Example: If a person is prohibited from doing something and you do it, causing injury to another person, then the injured person can recover damages. The New York General Obligations Law Section 11-101 (1), commonly known as the Dram Shop Law, prohibits the sale of liquor to persons under the age of 21. If an establishment sells alcohol to a minor, it has breached its duty and will be liable if the person to whom it sold liquor becomes intoxicated and causes harm to another person.

Example: If a company makes a product that is defective and causes injury, or causes injury when used properly, the injured party could recover damages. You buy a mower with a blade guard system that allows you to clean the area in front of the blades without fear of injury, as long as the mower engine is off. You turn off the engine and place your hand in the safe area, but the engine restarts, injuring your hand. You can recover damages without having to prove that the manufacturer acted with intent to cause you harm, negligence or recklessness.