To prevail in a personal injury lawsuit, you must prove certain legal elements. One of those elements is causation, which refers to the causal relationship between a negligent party’s conduct and your injuries. An Atlanta personal injury attorney at Rafi Law Firm knows what evidence is necessary to prove causation in personal injury cases.
What are the legal elements of negligence?
Personal injury claims in Georgia are primarily based on negligence. Negligence is a party’s failure to act with the level of care that a reasonable person would have exercised under the same conditions. There are four legal elements of negligence in a personal injury claim:
- Duty of care
- Breach of duty
- Causation
- Damages
This post will focus on causation. Causation is the notion that the party responsible for your personal injury accident acted in a way that caused your injuries. You cannot legally hold them liable if their negligence or intentional act did not cause your injuries.
What is the standard needed to prove causation?
As a plaintiff in a lawsuit, you have a certain burden of proof, a legal standard used to demonstrate the validity of your claim. To be successful in a Georgia personal injury claim, you must prove causation and the other elements of negligence by a preponderance of the evidence. This means that you can demonstrate to a judge or jury that your claims are more likely true than not.
How do you determine causation?
There are two primary types of cause considered to determine causation in personal injury claims. These causes are cause in fact and proximate cause. To have a valid legal claim against a party, you must prove both these causes.
Cause in fact is typically determined using the “but for” test. This test considers whether or not the accident that led to your injuries would have occurred without the other party’s actions or omissions. It asks whether your accident would have happened but for the other party’s actions.
Proximate cause evaluates whether the cause of your accident is legally sufficient to hold the responsible party liable. In other words, is it fair to hold that party responsible for your injuries? This cause asks whether it was reasonably foreseeable that their breach of duty would cause your damages.
What evidence can be used to prove causation?
It is important to present evidence proving causation in your personal injury case. An experienced personal injury lawyer in Atlanta knows what evidence can help you prove the elements of negligence. Evidence commonly used to prove causation includes:
- The police report
- Eyewitness testimony
- Your medical records and bills
- Expert witness testimony
What if you were partly responsible for your accident?
While investigating your personal injury claim, we may discover that you were partially to blame for your accident. This is known as comparative fault. In Georgia, you may still be eligible to recover damages from the other party responsible for your accident if you were less than 50% at fault.
If you are determined to be less than 50% liable for your accident, any damages you are awarded will be reduced by the percentage you are at fault. For example, if you are awarded $10,000 in damages for your injuries but are 20% liable, your damages will be reduced to $8,000.
Who can help you prove causation in your personal injury case?
At Rafi Law Firm, we can collect the evidence needed to prove causation and the other elements of negligence in your personal injury claim. Call our personal injury lawyers in Atlanta at (404) 800-9933 today to schedule a free consultation. We can discuss what you need to collect compensation after your personal injury accident.
