Boston Personal Injury and Negligence

In personal injury cases, negligence is the most common basis for taking an action. The law requires certain standards of behavior by individuals. When the defendant acts in a non-standard manner, the law considers this unreasonable, and therefore the defendant may be accountable. In order to prove negligence, a claimant must establish that the defendant had a legal duty to the claimant. After the legal duty has been determined, the claimant must establish that the defendant has breached the standard behavior. And, the defendant’s breach of this standard caused the injury and the injury was predictable at the time of the breach.

Legal standards of behavior are founded on what a “reasonable person” would do under comparable situations. A “reasonable person” would have adhered to the safety law, even if others would not. When it comes to individuals such as doctors, dentists, engineers, pilots, and similar jobs that require definite knowledge and training, the standard of behavior is more precise. The standard behavior expected for obligations pertinent to these jobs is founded on their required knowledge and skill.

In a personal injury negligence claim, the claimant has to make a claim in the court within the limitation period. The claimant has three years from either the date of the accident or the date that the claimant learns of the accident. This is due to particular cases where the problem does not manifest until years after the incident, such as industrial disease claims.

As a common rule, it is in your best interest to seek legal guidance immediately after you have been injured as a result of someone’s negligent acts, i.e., medical malpractice, slip and fall, dog bite, defective product, car accident, work place injury or any similar cases.