Establishing Liability in a Personal Injury Case

Establishing liability in a personal injury case is essential.  Not every injury will result in a successful lawsuit.  In fact, if you are unable to establish that the other party is liable for your injuries you will not recover any damages despite being injured.

Every successful personal injury case must establish that an injury occurred, the injury is the type of injury protected under the law, and the person or entity being used is liable for your injury. 

There are different ways that liability can be established.  A person or entity is considered liable for your injuries if they owed you (and others) a duty of care that they breached.  This means that they were required under the law to act in a way that would reduce the risk of injury to others but they failed to do so.  An example of this would be if a business fails to maintain their lobby and people are injured because of the poor condition of the lobby.

Another way of establishing liability in a personal injury case is to show that the defendant actively caused the injury.  In other words, the defendant's direct actions caused your injury.  Examples of this type of liability include car accidents and other types of accidents resulting in injury.

A third way to establish liability is to show that an omission (failure to act) by the defendant caused you injury.  An example of this is when a manufacturer knows that there is a problem with their product and they fail to recall the product.  An attorney can explain when an omission (a failure to do something) establishes liability.

There are different nuances under each of these ways of establishing liability in a personal injury case that an attorney can explain.  There are ways to establish liability ranging from negligent hiring (a company was negligent in hiring someone that caused you injury) to contributory negligence (they were not the sole cause of the injury but they contributed to it).  Explaining all the facts to your attorney can help in establishing liability in a personal injury case.