Negligence is a legal concept that refers to some party’s failure to act with a certain level of care and, as a result of this failure, put others’ safety at risk. Serving as the basis of personal injury lawsuits, negligence is closely tied to liability, as the party that acted negligently will also be the entity responsible for compensating those who were injured by the negligence.
How to Prove Negligence
In general, the following factors need to be established in order to prove that some type of negligence occurred:
- A duty of care existed: In other words, one party had a duty to act with a certain level of care in a given situation.
- This duty was not met: In one way or another, the responsible party failed to act as carefully as (s)he should have, breaching the necessary duty of care.
- The failure to meet the duty of care caused harm: The breach was directly responsible for hurting someone else, causing physical injuries, emotional distress, property damage and/or other losses.
Common Examples of Negligence
Negligence can come in many forms and at the hands of a number of different parties, including individuals, companies, government entities, etc. Some of the more common examples of negligence that regularly harms people, however, include (but are by no means limited to) the negligence that can cause:
- Traffic accidents, with common forms of negligence that causes collisions including:
- Driver negligence, such as drunk driving, distracted driving, failing to follow traffic laws, etc.
- Automakers’ negligence, which can arise when faulty vehicle equipment causes accidents
- Other negligence, which can arise when, for instance, certain parties fail to safely maintain roads.
- Medical malpractice, with common forms of negligence that causes medical mistakes and resulting harm including:
- Professionals’ negligence, which can include the negligent actions of nurses, doctors, surgeons, anesthesiologists, etc.
- Medical facilities’ negligence, which can arise when, for instance, these facilities hire inexperienced medical professionals or they expose patients to additional harm (like infection because the facilities are not properly cleaned)
- Product malfunctions, with common forms of negligence that causes malfunctions including:
- Manufacturers’ negligence, which can result from a failure to test the safety of products, warn the public about the dangers associated with using products and/or using toxic or unsafe materials in products
- Technicians’ negligence, which can arise when, for instance, a technician fails to properly install and/or repair a consumer product or appliance.
Contact a Portland Personal Injury Lawyers at the Savage Law Firm
If you or a loved one has been harmed by any form of negligence, you can rely on the Portland personal injury lawyers at the Savage Law Firm for experienced help and aggressive legal advocacy. For more than three decades, our lawyers have been devoted to providing each of our clients with personal attention, respect and the highest quality legal services.
We realize how devastating a personal injury can be on a physical, psychological and financial level. That is why our lawyers are here to aggressively defend injured people’s rights, help them hold negligent parties accountable and work diligently to help them secure the justice and compensation they deserve.
To learn more about our legal services and what we can do for you, call us at 503-222-0200 (in Portland) or at 206-957-7272 (in Seattle). You can also email us using the form on this page. We represent clients in communities in both Oregon and Washington from our offices in Portland and Seattle.
