When someone acts in a careless way that results in an injury to another person, under a legal principle of negligence, the careless person will be held legally liable for any resulting harm.    In a negligence claim the plaintiff, the person who was injured,  must show that the defendant, the person that caused the injury,  was at fault for his/or her injury.

The elements of a negligence case that must be proven include duty, breach, causation, and damages.

Missouri has a legal doctrine to assign fault, called pure comparative negligence which provides a way to allocate fault between parties.  The legal system takes a look at an accident to see who was responsible for the accident and will assign a percentage of fault to all parties in the accident.  As an example; if you were in a vehicle that was speeding through an intersection and you were hit by another vehicle whose driver ran a red light that resulted in an accident, a jury might determine that the person who ran the red light was 80 percent negligent or at fault and you were 20 percent negligent or at fault.  This would mean that if you have a total amount of damages of $10,000 you would only be awarded 80% of your damages which would be $8000 because your negligence contributed to your injuries.  If you hadn’t been speeding the accident might not have occurred.   Pure comparative negligence will result in the plaintiff’s damages being totaled and then reduced to reflect his or her contribution to the injury.

If you or a loved one has been injured due to another person’s negligence there may be legal recourse for reimbursement of medical bills and lost wages and more.  Contact RS Law for a free consultation to discuss your claim.