If you’ve ever been the victim of someone else’s carelessness, you know how frustrating it can be to pay the price for someone else’s mistake. Whether it’s getting rear-ended by a distracted driver, bitten by an escaped dog, or injured by poorly maintained equipment, a personal injury can be expensive, stressful, and frightening.
In the legal world, there’s a term for significant carelessness that leads to an injury: negligence. Negligence is a common foundation for a personal injury case. If you’ve been injured as a result of negligence, reach out to an attorney as soon as possible. You may be eligible for financial compensation.
What is Negligence?
Negligence is a common term for one party’s failure to fulfill a duty to another party. We use the term negligent often, but to receive compensation, you will need to show four key components:
- The party had a duty to you
- That duty was breached
- The breach led to an accident
- The accident resulted in significant injury to you
If these four conditions are fulfilled, you may be able to prove fault and recover financial damages.
Nevada also relies on the concept of contributory negligence. Under this standard, a court may determine different levels of fault for the accident. For example, in a car accident, you may be partially at fault for speeding, but if the other driver was drunk or driving recklessly, you will both hold some measure of fault.
So long as you are less than 50% responsible for the accident, you may be able to recover damages. Your recovery will simply be decreased by the percent of fault you hold in the accident. If your damages are worth $100,000, but you are 10% at fault of the accident, you should be able to recover $90,000 in compensation.
Examples of Negligence
Some negligence cases are fairly simple to establish. If the individual failed to “exercise that degree of care which an ordinarily careful and prudent person would exercise under the same or similar circumstances” they generally have been negligent.
If a drunk driver speeds through a red light, hitting a pedestrian in the crosswalk, it is likely that the driver has been negligent.
If a department store was aware that water had spilled in an aisle and a patron slips and falls, injuring themselves, the department store has been negligent.
Other cases may be more difficult to decide. Injuries on private property or while trespassing can be complex, and if the negligent party could not have known of the condition that caused the injury, you may not be able to hold them responsible.
If you think you’ve been a victim of negligence, reach out to an accident lawyer. An experienced attorney may be able to help you determine if your injuries merit a lawsuit.
Negligence vs. Gross Negligence in Nevada
In cases of extreme negligence, you may be able to seek additional damages against a negligent party. Gross negligence requires not only that the respondent breached their duty to you, but that they did so either particularly recklessly or knowing their actions could cause great harm.
Compensation for Negligence-based Injuries
If you’ve suffered a personal injury, you may be eligible for financial compensation. By filing a lawsuit, you may be able to recover current and future medical expenses, loss of work, inability to continue working in your current job, and pain and suffering.
In particularly serious cases, you may also be able to collect punitive damages. If the negligent party’s actions consist of fraud, malice, oppression, or conscious disregard of harmful consequences, the court may decide to add punitive damages to your award.
Your first step should be to contact a personal injury law firm. At Oronoz & Ericsson, together we have over 40 years of experience fighting for fair compensation. We can help you evaluate your case and negotiate for a settlement. We won’t hesitate to take your case to trial to get you the compensation you deserve.
Contact Oronoz & Ericsson Injury Lawyers
Someone else’s mistake shouldn’t take away your future. If you’re facing medical bills and a painful recovery, reach out to our team of tenacious personal injury lawyers. We have decades of experience crafting personalized cases and protecting our clients’ rights to compensation. We’ll use proven negotiation tactics and aggressive representation so that you can focus on getting your life back on track.
You don’t have to face a lawsuit alone. Reach out to us online or at (702) 878-2889 to schedule your free consultation today.