Understanding negligence can help victims win compensation

This blog has discussed many different situations in which a Charlotte, North Carolina, victim can receive compensation for his or her injuries.

For instance, in many cases, a Charlotte resident will get hurt in a car accident, motorcycle accident, or truck accident that is the fault of one of the other motorists involved. In other cases, a resident may get hurt because of a dangerous condition on someone else’s property.

Sometimes, one’s own doctor or medical staff may make a key mistake, leaving a victim in a worsened condition than what she was in prior to treatment.

The common theme in all of these types of personal injury accidents is that someone who gets hurt because of another person’s careless mistakes should receive repayment for their injuries from the responsible party, even if that other person is generally of good character and would never try to harm anyone.

Legally, this is called the tort of negligence, and in the vast majority of personal injury cases,

understanding and then proving negligence is the key to a victim’s getting the compensation he deserves.

To prove negligence, a victim has to show four things, called elements. Specifically, the victim must prove 1) that the person involved in the accident had a responsibility to look after the victim, 2) that the person fell short in this responsibility in some respect, 3) that this failure injured the victim in some way, and 4) that the victim has injuries that, legally, can be compensated.

While it ultimately is the job of one’s attorney to know the law behind negligence and apply it correctly, a victim’s own understanding of negligence can also be tremendously helpful.