How to Prove Negligence Was the Cause of Your Injury
August 10, 2021 | Accidents,Personal Injury
Accidents in the state of Washington often lead to significant physical, emotional, and financial setbacks for victims. Any person who sustains an injury caused by the negligence of another individual or entity should be able to recover compensation for their losses. However, proving that the other party was negligent can be a challenge. Here, we want to discuss how to prove negligence in a Washington personal injury claim.
What is Negligence in a Personal Injury Case?
In most situations, individuals have a duty to uphold a certain standard of care to maintain the safety of those around them. When working to prove negligence, there are typically four elements that an individual will have to prove in order to recover compensation for an injury claim:
- That the at-fault party owed a duty to the injury victim
- That the at-fault party breached their duty of care in some way
- That the injury victim suffered some sort of injury as a result of the breach of duty
- That the injury victim sustained some sort of monetary loss as a result of the injury
Evidence to Prove Negligence
Proving negligence after an injury occurs can be challenging. No two personal injury cases are exactly alike, and the evidence needed to prove liability for one type of claim will look different than the evidence needed to prove another claim. For example, the evidence necessary to prove negligence in the aftermath of a vehicle accident will look different than the evidence needed to prove liability for a slip and fall accident claim.
Some of the types of evidence that can be used to prove negligence include the following:
- Statements from eyewitnesses who saw what happened
- Photographs taken at the scene of the incident
- Video surveillance footage from nearby cameras
- Accident reports filled out by the parties involved
- Historical records of the at-fault party (prior driving records, property owner negligence reports, etc.)
In many injury cases, the evidence will be fairly clear and the fault easy to establish. However, that is not always the case. It may even be necessary to work with accident reconstruction experts who can use the evidence available and employ their expertise to help create 3D renderings of the incident to help show insurance carriers or a personal injury jury exactly what happened.
There could be a situation where multiple parties share fault for the same incident. Washington operates under a “pure comparative negligence” system. This means that injury victims can still recover compensation even if they are up to 99% at fault for the incident. However, the total amount of compensation they receive will be reduced based on their percentage of fault. That is why it is crucial to gather as much evidence as possible to prove the negligence of the at-fault party.
Work With a Washington Personal Injury Lawyer
If you or somebody you love has been injured due to the careless or negligent actions of someone else, you need to work with a skilled Seattle personal injury lawyer as soon as possible. A Seattle personal injury attorney can handle every aspect of these claims, including investigating the incident to prove liability, negotiating with aggressive insurance carriers, and even taking a case to trial if necessary.