Everything You Need to Know About Florida Negligence

Sam Jalo

What is Negligence?

Negligence is defined as a failure to behave with the level of care that someone of ordinary prudence would have exercised under the same circumstances. It serves as the legal basis for all personal injury claims. Four elements of negligence are needed to be met in order to have a personal injury claim.

The Four Elements of Negligence

  1. Legal Duty that Tortfeasor owed to the Plaintiff

  2. Tortfeasor’s Breach of Duty

  3. Plaintiff’s Sufferance of an Injury

  4. Tortfeasor’s breach was the Causation to the Plaintiff’s Injuries.

Determining Duty and Breach

Before you pursue a personal injury claim for negligence, you must establish a legal duty. There must be reasonable care established between the parties. Proving the legal duty and then showing that the duty was breached are required elements for any lawsuit for damages due to negligence.

For example, Person A driving down I-275 owes a legal duty to act as a reasonable driver to all other drivers around their car. This is sometimes called the zone of risk. If Person B is driving in front of Person A on 1-275, Person A now established a legal duty between himself and Person B, and vice versa. Now both drivers have to act as a reasonably prudent driver. If Person B is slowing down with traffic and Person A is not paying attention and using their phone while driving, causing a crash between Person A and B, Person A has breached their legal duty to act as a reasonably prudent driver. A breach occurs when the legal duty is absent.

Causation between the Breach and Injuries

Legal causation is needed in order to establish a prima facie negligence action. Cause-in-fact causation means that the Tortfeasor actually caused the accident (Person A rear-ended Person B). A Plaintiff can show this by demonstrating evidence that no injury would have occurred “but-for“ the Tortfeasor’s breach of duty.

Comparative Negligence

Florida is a comparative negligence state. This means that if a plaintiff is partially at fault for an accident in which they suffer harm, their recovery of damages will be reduced. For example, if Person B (from above) was 20% at fault in the above-mentioned accident, Person B will be able to recover 80% of their damages.

Contact us today if you believe you may have a legal basis for a personal injury action!

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