Negligence is an essential element of personal injury claims near Decatur and Atlanta . In personal injury law, an attorney uses negligence to establish one person’s fault for an accident. Keep reading to learn more about the elements of negligence in personal injury law, including a breached duty, direct causation, and measurable damages. 
Breached Duty
To prove negligence and pursue damages on behalf of an injured party, a personal injury lawyer must show that the at-fault party owed a duty of care and breached that duty. In personal injury law, the duty of care is a legal obligation to adhere to a standard of reasonable care. To prove negligence, a lawyer must show that a person fell below the standard of care in a given case. For example, in auto accidents, a driver who is speeding or talking on the phone while driving is not exercising reasonable care.
Direct Causation
Even if someone drops below the standard of care, he is only responsible for another individual’s personal injury if an attorney can prove that his negligence was the direct cause of that injury. This aspect of personal injury claims can be tricky, which is why it helps to have an experienced personal injury attorney on your side. For example, if a driver suffers a back injury after being rear-ended by another driver, the second driver’s insurance company might try to prove that the back injury was a pre-existing condition.
Measurable Damages
The last part of proving a negligence claim involves showing damages. Damages refer to any kind of compensable injury. Damages may include medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering. If your attorney cannot prove that your personal injury resulted in certain expenses, it will not matter if the person who hurt you was otherwise negligent. For example, if you were hit by a truck driver but cannot demonstrate that you had any medical bills or missed work because of your injury, your claim will fail.
Find out more about how personal injury law and auto accident claims work by calling Attorney Big Al at 1-800-HURT-123.