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Negligence is a legal concept used to determine whether someone should be held responsible for causing another person’s injuries. It is the basis of many personal injury claims, including those involving car accidents, slip and falls, medical malpractice, and other preventable incidents.
In general, negligence occurs when someone fails to use the level of care that a reasonably careful person would use under similar circumstances. However, showing that someone acted carelessly is not always enough to establish a personal injury claim.
An injured person typically must prove several elements connecting the negligent conduct to their injuries.
Most negligence claims require the injured person to establish four basic elements: duty of care, breach of duty, causation, and damages. Each element plays an important role in determining whether another person or business can be held legally responsible.
The first element is establishing that the defendant owed the injured person a duty of care. A duty of care is a legal obligation to act with reasonable caution to avoid unnecessarily harming others.
The specific duty depends on the circumstances. For example, drivers have a duty to operate their vehicles with reasonable care and follow applicable traffic laws. Property owners may have duties concerning dangerous conditions on their premises. Healthcare providers are generally expected to provide treatment consistent with the applicable professional standard of care.
A breach occurs when someone fails to satisfy the applicable duty of care. In many cases, this means behaving differently from how a reasonably careful person would have behaved under similar circumstances.
Examples of conduct that could constitute a breach include:
Whether a defendant breached a duty is highly dependent on the facts of the case.
It is not enough to prove that someone acted negligently. The injured person must also establish a connection between that conduct and the harm they suffered.
Generally, this means showing that the defendant’s actions actually caused the injury and that the harm was a reasonably foreseeable consequence of the conduct.
For example, suppose a driver runs a red light and crashes into another vehicle, causing the other driver to suffer a broken arm. The connection between the negligent behavior and the injury may be relatively straightforward.
Causation can become more complicated when several events contributed to an accident or the injured person had a pre-existing medical condition.
Finally, a negligence claim generally requires proof that the injured person suffered legally recognized harm. Someone may behave carelessly without causing an injury or other loss. In that situation, there may be negligence in an everyday sense but no viable personal injury claim.
Depending on the circumstances, damages in a negligence case may include medical expenses, lost income, reduced earning capacity, pain and suffering, property damage, and other accident-related losses.
The “reasonable person” standard is commonly used when determining whether someone acted negligently. Instead of asking whether the defendant personally believed their behavior was safe, the question is generally whether a reasonably careful person would have acted similarly under the circumstances.
The standard is intended to provide an objective way to evaluate conduct.
For example, a driver may believe they can safely read a text message while driving. However, their personal belief does not necessarily determine whether they were negligent. Their actions can instead be compared with how a reasonably careful driver would behave.
Different standards may apply in certain situations, including cases involving professionals such as doctors.
Negligence can occur in many situations.
Personal injury cases commonly involve allegations of negligence arising from:
The specific evidence needed to establish negligence will depend on how the injury occurred and which parties may have contributed to it.
Proving negligence typically requires evidence demonstrating what happened, why the accident occurred, and how the defendant’s conduct caused the resulting injuries.
Relevant evidence may include photographs and videos, accident reports, medical records, witness statements, surveillance footage, employment records, cell phone records, vehicle data, maintenance records, and expert testimony.
Evidence can disappear or become more difficult to obtain over time. Surveillance footage may be deleted, physical conditions can change, and witnesses may forget important details. Preserving evidence can therefore be an important part of pursuing a negligence claim.
Wisconsin follows a modified comparative negligence rule. This means more than one person can share responsibility for an accident, including the injured person.
Under Wisconsin law, you may generally recover compensation as long as your negligence is not greater than the negligence of the person you are seeking recovery from. However, your compensation is reduced according to your percentage of fault.
For example, if you are found 20% responsible for an accident, your recovery may be reduced by 20%. If your negligence is greater than the defendant’s negligence, you generally cannot recover compensation from that defendant.
Negligence may sound straightforward, but establishing liability can become complicated when fault is disputed, multiple parties are involved, or an insurance company argues that the injured person contributed to the accident.
A personal injury lawyer can investigate what happened, gather evidence, identify potentially responsible parties, and explain how negligence laws apply to your situation. If you were injured because of someone else’s careless conduct, reach out to a personal injury attorney at PKSD by calling (414) 333-3333 to discuss your case during a free consultation.
This page has been written, edited, and reviewed by a team of legal writers following our comprehensive editorial guidelines. This page was approved by attorney Jeffery A. Pitman, who has more than 28 years of legal experience and handled thousands of personal injury cases while obtaining millions of dollars in verdicts and settlements in Wisconsin.
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