When someone gets hurt because of someone else’s actions, the law looks at whether there was a “breach of duty.” It sounds like a big legal term, but it basically means someone didn’t do what they were supposed to, and that caused someone else to suffer harm.
Here’s an example to understand the breach of duty: Drivers are responsible for following rules, like stopping at red lights. If a driver runs a red light and crashes into you, they’ve failed their duty to drive safely. This failure is what we call a breach of duty—when someone doesn’t act as they should, causing harm to someone else.
Types of Breach of Duty
Breach of duty can happen in different ways. Here are three examples of how it can look:
- Negligent Breach of Duty: This is when someone’s carelessness causes harm. They might not have meant to hurt anyone, but their lack of attention led to an accident. Like a driver speeding or a store owner not cleaning up a spill, causing someone to slip.
- Intentional Breach of Duty: This happens when someone does something on purpose to hurt someone. Examples could be punching someone or breaking into a house with the intent to harm.
- Strict Liability Breach of Duty: Sometimes, even if a person didn’t mean to hurt anyone, they’re still responsible. For example, if a company sells a broken toy that causes injury or if a dog bites someone, the owner can still be held accountable.
What You Need to Prove Breach of Duty
If you’ve been hurt because of someone else’s mistake, here’s how you can prove that they breached their duty:
- Duty of Care: First, you need to show that the person has a responsibility to be careful. For example, drivers have to follow the road rule
- Breach of Duty: Next, you need to show that the person didn’t do what they were supposed to do. If they ran a red light or didn’t clean up a mess in their store, they broke their duty of care. This could be backed up with evidence like photos or witness statements.
- Causation: You also need to prove that their mistake directly caused your injury. If the driver ran the red light and crashed into you, you’ll need to show that the crash happened because of their actions.
How to Prove Breach of Duty in a PI Case
To win your case, you’ll need strong evidence. Some examples of helpful evidence include statements from people who saw what happened, medical records from your doctor, and photos of the accident scene.
This evidence can help show that the person who caused your injury didn’t do what they were supposed to do and that their mistake led to your harm.
Another way to show that someone broke their duty is by comparing their actions to what a reasonable person would do.
For example, if a driver runs a red light and crashes into you, a jury might decide that a reasonable person would have stopped at the light. This helps prove that the person’s actions weren’t what they should have been.
The person who hurt you might try to argue that they aren’t fully to blame. They might say you were partly at fault for the accident or that you knew there was a risk and decided to take it anyway. These arguments can change how much fault is assigned to a person and, in some cases, may let them off the hook completely.
Your best chance at scaling through all of this and getting maximum compensation is hiring the most competent lawyer you can find and letting them take the lead.
