“The tort of negligence is a legal wrong that is suffered by someone at the hands of another who fails to take proper care to avoid what a reasonable person would regard as foreseeable risk” (Source: lawteacher.net)
In order to prove negligence has occurred, there needs to be a duty of care, a breach of that duty of care, a connection between the defendant’s actions or inactions which resulted in harm to other person(s), proximate cause (could a reasonable person have foreseen this risk) and finally there was damage done to another person by the defendants conduct.
In many cases related to negligence there exists an element of carelessness by one person which resulted in harm to another. For example, a shop owner has automatic doors which are not working properly and on occasion shuts too quickly. The shopkeeper takes a chance and does not put any warning signs and does not ring a maintenance company to fix the doors. A customer leaving the shop approaches the doors, the doors open but close before he exits the shop and he ends up walking into the glass receiving a significant bump on the head and mild concussion. In this case, the shopkeeper had a duty of care to his customer to protect their health and safety whilst on their premises, breached this duty by knowing leaving malfunctioning doors in operation, could reasonably have foreseen what was going to happen which resulted in their customer receiving mild concussion.
In essence, the carelessness of the shopkeeper resulted in harm to his customer.
If the harm to the person is major and the level of negligence is proven to the significant this can come under the title of criminal negligence. For example, a person is texting while driving and mounts the footpath killing one person and seriously injuring the two other pedestrians, if proven, this could result in a jail-term for criminal negligence
If you feel you have suffered harm due to the negligence of others, call HD Keane today on 051 874854 or email [email protected] for a free initial consultation.