What is Considered Negligence in a Florida Personal Injury Lawsuit?

This is a quick lesson on injury law 101. The question is, what is negligence, and how can someone recover money damages as a result of being injured by someone else’s negligence? Negligence is composed of four elements, duty, breach, causation, and damages. Duty looks at whether someone has to use reasonable care under certain circumstances. So, if someone is driving their vehicle, they have to use reasonable care for the safety of others. Breach looks at whether that other person failed to use reasonable care when they’re driving their vehicle, for instance, running a red light and causing a crash. That is a breach of the duty to use reasonable care.

The next element looks at whether the breach was a cause of someone else’s injury. And when we talk about legal cause, we look at whether or not that person’s breach was the but-for cause of someone else’s injuries. For instance, if the person didn’t run a red light, the other person would not have been injured in the crash. The last element is damages, and the question is, were you injured as a result of the other person’s breach of their duty to use reasonable care? If those elements are met, you may have a claim for money damages.