Young man sitting and talking to doctor about his injuries

This may be your most pressing question after your immediate medical needs have been addressed. Is someone else to blame for the injury that you are suffering? Could that person or business be made to compensate you for your injuries?

Here’s How to Tell for Sure

You may have the right to bring a legal case and to pursue compensation if the person or business that hurt you violated a statute or was negligent. Commonly, personal injury cases arise when someone was negligent as that term is defined by law. Therefore, you may have a lawsuit that is worth pursuing if you can prove that:

  • The person who hurt you owed you a duty of care. A duty of care may be created because of the specific relationship between you and the defendant. For example, a doctor owes you a duty of care if you are a patient. Likewise, a duty of care may be created because of what you and the defendant were doing at the time that you were hurt. For example, all drivers have a duty of care to other motorists.
  • The person who hurt you breached that duty of care by failing to act like a reasonably prudent person would given the circumstances. Determining what a “reasonably prudent person” might do is often contested in personal injury cases.
  • The breach of the duty of care caused your injuries. Those injuries would not have happened but for the breach of the duty of care. You can only recover damages if the defendant’s actions or inactions caused your injuries.

You have a legal right to recover damages pursuant to the law because you were hurt. You will be required to explain what those damages are and how you should be compensated.

While this definition of negligence applies to many personal injury cases, it can be difficult to know how it applies to the situation that caused your injury.

Still Have Questions? Get a Free Personal Consultation

Our experienced personal injury lawyers will be pleased to provide you with a free, no-obligation consultation. We can talk about how a personal injury case works and about whether you may have a claim worth pursuing. Contact us online or call us directly at 800.800.5678.

Jason F. Abraham
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Helping car accident and personal injury victims throughout Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa since 1993.