Getting injured isn’t enough to win a personal injury case. The law doesn’t automatically assume that just because you got hurt, someone else must be responsible.
The burden of proof is on you, the plaintiff. That means you have to prove that the other party was actually at fault. You need solid evidence that meets four specific legal requirements. If even one of these elements is missing, your case won’t hold up in court.
Here are these four legal requirements.
Establishing Duty of Care
The first thing you have to prove is that the defendant (the person you’re suing) had a legal duty to keep you safe in that particular situation. This is called the duty of care; it’s the basic idea that people must act in a reasonably careful way to avoid harming others. The level of duty depends on the situation.
For example, drivers have a duty to obey traffic laws and drive safely. Store owners have a duty to keep their floors dry and free of hazards. Doctors have a duty to provide proper medical care to their patients. Landlords have a duty to maintain safe living conditions for tenants. If someone had no duty of care toward you, then there’s no case.
Let’s say you trip over your own shoelace while walking in a parking lot. No one else caused your fall, so you can’t sue the property owner. But if you trip over a large pothole that the owner failed to fix, that’s different; the owner had a duty to maintain a safe environment.
Breach of Duty
Once you prove that the other party had a duty to keep you safe, the next step is proving that they failed to meet that duty. This is called a breach of duty and happens when someone acts recklessly or carelessly.
For example, a driver who is texting and runs a red light is breaching their duty to drive safely. A store that ignores a spill on the floor for hours is breaching its duty to maintain a hazardous environment. A doctor who prescribes the wrong medication because they weren’t paying attention is breaching their duty to provide competent medical care.
A breach of duty can be an action (like speeding) or an inaction (like failing to fix a broken railing). Either way, the key is proving that the other party didn’t act the way a reasonable person would have under the same circumstances. But even if you prove they were careless, that alone isn’t enough to win. You also have to prove that their carelessness directly caused your injury.
Causation
Just because someone acted carelessly doesn’t automatically make them responsible for your injury. You need to prove that their specific actions directly caused your harm. This is called causation.
Imagine a driver running a red light. That’s clearly careless. But if they don’t hit anyone, they aren’t responsible for any injuries. Now, if they crash into a pedestrian while running that red light, it’s obvious their negligence caused the injury. The key question is: Would you have been hurt if they had been careful? If the answer is no, then their negligence is the direct cause of your injury.
Causation also includes foreseeability. If a store leaves a spill on the floor for hours, it’s reasonable to expect that someone might slip and get hurt. But let’s say a driver runs a red light, and five minutes later, you trip over a rock while walking down the sidewalk.
The driver’s reckless behavior had nothing to do with your injury. You can’t sue them just because they did something dangerous that didn’t actually affect you.
In some cases, the defendant might argue that something else caused your injury. If you already had a bad knee and then slipped on a wet floor, they might claim that your injury wasn’t caused by the fall but by a preexisting condition.
That’s why medical records, accident reports, and witness statements are so important; they help prove that their actions, and not something else, led to your injury.
Damages
Even if you prove duty, breach, and causation, there’s one more thing you must prove: you actually suffered real harm. This is called damages. You can’t sue someone just because they were reckless. You need to show that you experienced losses because of their actions.
Damages can be financial, physical, or emotional. If you slip in a store but catch yourself before falling, with no injuries and no medical bills, there’s no case. If a driver rear-ends your car but there’s no damage and you’re not hurt, there’s nothing to sue for. No damages mean no case.
However, if your injury led to a hospital stay, surgery, ongoing pain, or emotional distress, then you have real damages, and you deserve compensation.
