Negligence, Explained: What It Means for Your Personal Injury Case

When you’ve been injured in an accident—whether it's a car crash, a slip and fall, or another incident—your right to compensation usually depends on one key legal concept: negligence. But what exactly does that mean, and how does it affect your personal injury claim?

What Is Negligence?

Negligence is a legal term that refers to someone’s failure to act with the level of care that a reasonable person would have used in the same situation. It doesn’t require intent to harm—just carelessness or failure to follow expected standards of behavior.

In personal injury law, proving negligence is often the foundation of a successful claim.

The Four Elements of Negligence

To win a personal injury case based on negligence, your attorney will need to show that all four of the following elements are present:

1. Duty of Care The other party had a legal obligation to act in a reasonably safe manner. For example, drivers have a duty to follow traffic laws and watch out for pedestrians.

2. Breach of Duty They failed to meet that duty. Maybe they ran a red light, ignored a hazard, or didn’t maintain their property.

3. Causation Their failure caused your injury. This means showing a direct link between the breach of duty and the harm you suffered.

4. Damages You suffered losses—medical bills, lost income, pain and suffering—that can be compensated through legal action.

Real-World Examples of Negligence

A distracted driver rear-ends you at a stoplight.
A store fails to clean up a spill, and you slip and injure your back.
A dog owner doesn’t secure their pet, and it bites you in a public park.
In each case, someone’s failure to act carefully led to someone else getting hurt.

Why Negligence Matters

Negligence is more than just a legal standard—it’s what allows you to seek justice. If you can prove someone else was negligent and that their negligence caused your injury, you may be entitled to compensation for your losses.

At L&F Brown, we work to uncover the facts, build strong evidence, and hold negligent parties accountable.

What If You Were Partially at Fault?

California follows a system called comparative negligence, which means your compensation can be reduced based on your level of responsibility. For example, if you were found to be 20% at fault for an accident, your recovery would be reduced by that percentage.