Helping with Healing and Hope
A personal injury can leave you feeling hopeless. Between healing from physical injuries and emotional trauma, you may be discouraged by the never-ending medical bills. If you have suffered severe injuries, you may be forced to work a reduced schedule or be unable to work. Both options come with financial struggles.
At Fanelli, Evans & Patel, we know the hardships personal injury victims face. Our Sunbury personal injury attorneys will evaluate your situation to determine if you have a personal injury case.
Proving Liability
Any successful personal injury case requires that the injured party prove that another person directly caused their injuries. There are various ways in which a person can be liable, but another’s negligence causes most personal injury cases.
Negligence is the failure to take reasonable care in completing a task. Reasonable care is defined as the care that a person of ordinary intelligence would have used in the same or similar situation.
Negligence has four elements:
Duty of Care
Duty of care is a person’s legal obligation to maintain a certain standard of care to prevent harming others. Every situation requires that each of us behave with care. For example, following a snowstorm, a business owner should remove snow and ice from walkways on the property to keep patrons safe.
Breach of Duty
If a person violates his or her duty of care, this is known as a breach of duty. This is the second element of negligence that must be demonstrated for a successful negligence claim. In the above example, if a business owner fails to maintain sidewalks properly following a storm, this is a breach of the owner’s duty of care.
Causation
Causation links the defendant’s actions to your injuries and other losses. For a plaintiff to win a personal injury claim, factual and proximate causes must be present. Below, we discuss the differences between the types of causes:
Factual Cause
Also known as “cause-in-fact,” it is the action that sets a chain of events in motion. A factual cause can be determined by using the “but for” test. This test asks if the plaintiff would have sustained injuries but for the defendant’s actions. If the answer is “no,” then the defendant is not the factual cause of the plaintiff’s injuries.
Proximate Cause
It is not enough to show that the defendant was the factual cause of the plaintiff’s injuries. To win a negligence lawsuit, you must also prove that the defendant’s actions had the foreseeable consequence of causing you harm. This is known as the proximate cause. If a judge or jury rules that the harm was not foreseeable, the defendant will not be liable.
Damages
The final element of negligence is damages. To recover compensation, the plaintiff must demonstrate that he or she incurred measurable losses due to the accident or injury. Damages can be in the form of lost wages, lost earning capacity, medical expenses, property damage, or pain and suffering.
Pennsylvania Negligence Law
Pennsylvania practices the doctrine of comparative negligence when it comes to personal injury claims. Unlike some states that prohibit a victim from receiving compensation if the individual contributed in any way to the accident, Pennsylvania takes a more lenient approach.
In the Keystone State, an injury victim is barred from recovering compensation if he or she is found more at fault for the accident than the defendant. Percentage-wise, this means that the injured party can recover as long as he or she is less than 51% at fault.
Our Dedicated Personal Injury Attorneys
Proving that another party caused you harm is not always enough to be compensated for your injuries. Our personal injury attorneys in Sunbury, PA, are prepared to gather evidence to show how the wrongdoer contributed to your injuries.
At Fanelli, Evans & Patel, P.C., we are dedicated to fighting for your rights. Contact us today online or by calling 570-622-2455 to schedule your free consultation. Evening and weekend appointments are available.