Even though you are entitled to pursue legal action against someone who, in their negligence or willful conduct, caused you physical or psychological harm, you still need to prove the personal injury you were exposed to.
To prove fault and establish negligence, you should consider consulting with a personal injury attorney. Westlake Village follows the same laws and regulations that apply in the rest of California. Here is what you should know:
Duty of Care and Breach of Duty
To prove that a personal injury occurred in California, you must determine the liable party and demonstrate that they owed you a duty of care. For example, if your personal injury occurred due to a car accident, you must establish what driver or factors contributed to your accident.
In this instance, every driver has a duty of care to other traffic participants and pedestrians by respecting traffic laws and signs and driving their vehicle responsibly. If the accident occurred because the driver neglected to follow traffic signs or laws or other elements of negligence were involved, they need to be showcased. This way, you prove that, apart from having a duty of care to you, the at-fault party also breached that duty.
In other types of personal injury cases, such as malpractice, establishing the duty of care, and breach of duty elements might be harder. Still, if you work with a personal injury lawyer, they can help you and even work alongside other healthcare professionals to demonstrate that the at-fault healthcare institute or practitioner owed you a standard duty of care and that they failed to provide it to you, resulting in your injuries.
Causal Connection
In a personal injury case, apart from proving duty of care and breach of duty, you must also showcase a causal connection between the breach of duty and the damages you have suffered. You can achieve this by gathering evidence.
For example, if you contact authorities and receive medical attention while at the accident scene, the police will perform an investigation and create an accident report. At the same time, the healthcare providers will help you treat your injuries and also create a medical report.
These reports can be used to establish the causal connection in a personal injury case. You can also use photos or videos of the accident scene highlighting your damaged vehicle, injury, or road conditions. You should also write down the contact information of witnesses if they are present, as their testimonies will also strengthen your case.
Actual Damages
The duty of care, breach of duty, and causal connection are the most important elements of any personal injury case because, through these elements, an injured party will have the right to seek compensation for certain damages.
If you cannot prove these elements regarding your property damage, injuries, or other losses, you may not be able to seek compensation or be rewarded properly. The types of damages an injured victim can seek in a personal injury case include economic damages, non-economic damages, and punitive damages.
You can seek compensation for your property damage, medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, emotional distress, or loss of enjoyment of life. All these types of damages and your actual compensation are hard to calculate, and the at-fault party or insurance companies may try to offer you a lesser compensation amount.
However, you should never accept less than what you deserve. Consult with a personal injury lawyer specializing in the type of accident and personal injuries you were exposed to and learn more about your legal options. A lawyer will help you seek justice and fair compensation and guide you throughout the process.