Los Angeles Personal Injury Lawyers

Los Angeles Personal Injury Lawyers

Los Angeles Personal Injury Lawyers

Posted on: December 31, 2011 - 1:49 am
by Admin

The tort of negligence is an outcome of the old actions on the case for indirect damages. As such, negligence is necessarily comprised of specific elements. Those elements are as follows:

  • Duty of Care;
  • Breach of Duty; and,
  • Foreseeable Damages.

Personal Injury Claims and the Duty of Care

Each of the three elements of the tort of negligence must be proved on the balance of probabilities before the Court can find the defendant liable in negligence. Although not current law, guidance as to whether or not the defendant's conduct evinced a duty of care is to be obtained from the famous 1932 case of Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC 562. In that case, Lord Atkin read his famous obiter dicta to the House of Lords, (later adopted as rationes decidendi in High Court of Australia cases), the words of his Lordship being partially extracted as follows . . .