Know All About Liability And Carelessness

Most accidents result from the fact that someone was negligent. Negligence has been defined as careless and neglectful behavior.

What level of care was shown by each of the disputing parties?

If the two parties in a personal injury case were to present their arguments in a courtroom, the judge and jury would have to decide which of the 2 parties had been more careful. When making the decision, both the judge and jury would need to focus on the display of, or the failure to display, a satisfactory amount of reasonable care.

Did the defendant have a duty of care towards the plaintiff?

The answer to that question would be of primary importance, if the plaintiff had been injured at some sort of recreational facility. For example, maybe the plaintiff had suffered an injury while performing a bungee jump.

In that case, the judge would want to know whether or not the customer/plaintiff had been warned about the risks that are associated with bungee jumping. If the facility had failed to provide such a warning, then the customer/plaintiff would have a sound case. However, if the plaintiff had ignored a warning, then the facility would have been freed from its duty of care.

Could the plaintiff make a reasonable argument that the other party was negligent?

Did the other party act in a manner that could be described as careless or neglectful? Did the other party undertake the sort of action that a reasonable person would not consider doing? Did the other party fail to perform the sort of action that a reasonable person would not hesitate to take?

The law does not insist that every person should follow the lead of a hero. The law asks each person to take the sort of action that a reasonable person would take, if placed in the same situation. No one can get sued for refusing to put his or her life in danger. The legal system does not reward heroes, but it can punish someone that has shown an unacceptable level of negligence. As per personal injury lawyer in Barrie, it would be someone that has exhibited outrageous or egregious behavior. How does the legal system punish such a person?

If the injured plaintiff wins the case against such a defendant, then the same defendant gets hit with the need to fill 2 obligations. He or she must compensate the plaintiff for whatever damages resulted from the defendant’s objectionable actions. In addition, it becomes the defendant’s responsibility to pay the punitive damages.

What are the punitive damages? Those are predetermined sums of money, which are imposed on a defendant. In the eyes of the law, imposition by courts of punitive damages helps prevent recurrence of the defendants’ behavior.