Philadelphia Personal Injury Lawyer

Negligence and Your Personal Injury Case

Who is responsible? If you or someone close you has recently been seriously injured, this is probably the first question on your mind. In some cases, the answer may seem obvious; if a drunk driver ran a red light and hit your car, it would be logical to put the blame on him.

In other cases, unfortunately, assigning legal responsibility is far more complicated. If your car’s brake system failed, resulting in a serious collision, whose fault is it? Is it the company that manufactured your car? How about the corporation responsible for designing and producing brake components? Or maybe blame rests on the shoulders of a careless mechanic at the auto repair shop.

The Legal Concept of Negligence

Should you choose to take legal action to recover compensation for your injuries, you will most likely have to prove the defendant negligent in a court of law. Under the law, a person or corporation may be considered negligent if he/she/it failed to act in the way that a reasonable person would have.

For example, a reasonable person would be expected to clean up spilled liquids on the floor to prevent others from slipping and falling. If a supermarket fails to do so, it may be held legally liable for the injuries of any customer who gets hurt as a result.

Proving Negligence

Demonstrating negligence in court isn’t easy. You and your Philadelphia personal injury lawyer must collect evidence, obtain witness statements, and perhaps even seek out expert testimony to show that:

• The defendant failed to act in a reasonable manner
• The defendant’s actions (or failure to act) led directly to your injury

Contact Us

If you are considering legal action against the person or persons responsible for your injury, Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C. are here to help. Contact us today at 215-238-1130 to learn more about building a legal case.