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September 6th, 2024 After an accident, proving the other party was at fault can make or break your personal injury case or lawsuit. To recover compensation, you must prove their negligence by establishing four key elements.
In this guide, our personal injury attorneys explain exactly what you need to prove fault under the law.
In simplest terms, negligence refers to a person or entity failing to exercise reasonable care, resulting in harm to another person. It covers a wide range of situations – from a distracted driver causing a collision to a property owner neglecting to fix a hazardous condition that leads to a slip and fall accident.
Negligence forms the very basis of most personal injury claims and lawsuits. If the defendant’s actions (or inactions) did not constitute negligence under the law, you’ll have an extremely difficult time being awarded any damages. That’s why proving negligence is the core quest you and your legal team must embark on.
For a personal injury claim to succeed, the plaintiff (that’s you) must establish evidence of four key elements: duty of care, breach of duty, causation, and damages.
The duty of care refers to a person or entity’s legal obligation to exercise reasonable care and avoid foreseeable risks of harm to others. It sets the standard for how a reasonably prudent person would act under similar circumstances.
In personal injury cases, some examples of these duties include:
Oregon courts will examine the specific circumstances to determine if the defendant owed a duty to the plaintiff. This element often comes down to whether harm to the plaintiff was reasonably foreseeable based on the relationship between the parties.
The second critical element is proving the defendant breached or violated their duty of care through specific actions or failures to act. This breach is essentially what constitutes negligent conduct.
Some examples of breached duties include:
Evidence is key here. Things like eyewitness testimony, videos/photos, expert analysis, safety code violations, and more may help establish that the defendant failed to exercise reasonable care as required.
In certain cases, Oregon applies a “negligence per se” doctrine. If the defendant violated a law or regulation designed to prevent the type of harm you suffered, that breach may be automatically presumed.
This element has two components – you must prove the defendant’s breach of duty was both the actual cause and the proximate cause of your injuries.
Actual cause refers to the “but for” test. In other words, but for the defendant’s negligent act or omission, you would not have suffered any harm. Your injuries must be directly linked to their conduct.
Proximate cause means your injury was a reasonably foreseeable consequence of the breach. The law doesn’t require the defendant predict the precise injury, but there has to be a logical sequence of events showing the harm was within the general risk created by the negligent behavior.
Oregon also follows a modified comparative negligence model. Your damages may be reduced in proportion to whatever percentage of fault the court assigns to you, if it determines you also failed to exercise reasonable care. However, you can still recover partial damages unless you were greater than 50% at fault.
The final piece of the negligence puzzle is proving you suffered quantifiable harm in the form of economic losses, physical injuries, emotional distress, or other recognized damages under Oregon law.
Compensable damages in personal injury cases frequently include:
In limited cases, a personal injury claim may move forward without physical injury if you experienced other profound trauma like negligent infliction of emotional distress. But in general, you need to show you incurred measurable harm that entitles you to compensation.
While understanding the four elements is crucial, the real battle lies in convincing a judge or jury that you’ve met your burden of proof – a “preponderance of the evidence” – for each one.
Presenting a strong personal injury case requires thorough documentation and multiple forms of evidence, which may include:
As personal injury attorneys, our role is to develop a meticulous strategy for investigating all aspects of your claim, gathering the proof required to meet all four negligence elements, and advocating tirelessly on your behalf through settlement negotiations or at trial.
Comparative negligence means that even if you, as the plaintiff, were partially negligent and contributed to causing the accident, you can still recover damages from other liable parties. However, any award will be reduced proportionally by your assigned percentage of fault.
For example, if the damages totaled $100,000 but you were deemed 20% negligent, you’d only receive $80,000 of that amount.
This comparative fault doctrine is intended to assign accountability to each party involved based on their respective liability. However, insurance companies frequently use it as a tactic to try minimizing what they pay out. Overcoming a comparative negligence argument requires comprehensive evidence and a skillful legal strategy.
In addition to fulfilling the four negligence elements, personal injury claims in Oregon are bound by a strict statute of limitations. This is a time window during which your lawsuit must be properly filed, or your case will likely be dismissed.
For most personal injury cases based on negligence, the statute of limitations in Oregon is two years from the date of injury. Given how unforgiving these time limits can be, it’s absolutely critical to consult with an Oregon personal injury lawyer as soon as possible after suffering harm. (there are exceptions to this)
For plaintiffs in a personal injury case, proving all four elements of negligence is crucial, as it lays the foundation for recovering damages and compensation. The purpose of a personal injury award is to make the victim “whole” again from a financial perspective and provide accountability for the responsible party’s negligent actions.
In successful Oregon negligence claims, compensatory damages awarded typically include economic damages like:
They also include non-economic damages, which aim to compensate for subjective harm like pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, permanent disability or disfigurement.
In egregious cases where a defendant’s conduct is found to be wanton, reckless, or malicious, courts may allow additional punitive damages designed to punish and deter similar future negligence.
If you’ve been injured by someone else’s negligence in Oregon or Washington, don’t try to tackle this legal battle alone. Let the experienced personal injury team at Hess Injury Law shoulder the burden for you.
We’ll listen to the details of your situation, gather evidence to build a strong negligence case, and aggressively fight the insurance companies every step of the way to maximize your compensation. You pay nothing until we recover fair damages covering your losses.
The consultation is free, so you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Contact Hess Injury Law today to get started on your path to justice and a full recovery.
Disclaimer: The content of this blog is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. It should not be relied upon as a substitute for professional legal counsel.
Peter J. Hess grew up in Walla Walla, Washington. He is a 1996 graduate of Walla Walla High School and a 2000 graduate of the University of Washington, with a B.A. in Business Administration/Information Systems.
Peter graduated from Willamette University College of Law, with honors, in 2007. While at Willamette, he was an Associate Editor of the Willamette Law Review, he was a Teacher’s Assistant for a Legal Research and Writing professor, and he worked as a Personal Injury Law Clerk at Swanson, Lathen, Alexander & McCann in Salem, Oregon. After graduation from Willamette, Peter began working here at Hess Injury Law. In 2012, he became a partner in the firm. He is licensed to practice law in both Washington and Oregon.
