Depending on the severity of the impact, a car accident can leave you with significant injuries and property damage. When a car accident occurs as a result of someone else’s reckless actions, you may be entitled to compensation to help take care of the cost of treating your injuries and repairing damaged property.
However, to win a personal injury claim, you must prove that the defendant was indeed negligent and, thus, responsible for the accident. Here are the four questions you need to ask when you’re trying to prove negligence:
Did the other driver have a duty of care?
Every road user has a duty to operate their motor vehicle, or use the road, safely and in a non-hazardous manner to ensure that other road users and their properties are not damaged.
Did the other driver breach that duty of care?
Drivers violate their duty of care when they don’t follow traffic signals, speed, engage in distracted driving, drive while impaired or make other, similar mistakes. Your case is strongest when you can show what the driver did wrong.
Did the breach directly or indirectly cause your losses?
Next, you must prove that the defendant’s breach of duty resulted in injury and property damage. You must find a direct link between the breach of duty and your injury and suffering. In other words, you must prove that your injuries would not have happened if the defendant has observed their duty of care.
Did you actually suffer losses as a result of the breach?
Finally, to get the compensation you deserve, you must prove legally recognizable damages. These can be economic or non-economic damages. In other words, you must prove that the defendant’s failure to exercise reasonable care resulted in your injuries and other losses.
Car accident claims are won or lost based on the plaintiff’s evidence. These are the four elements of negligence that you must prove to win your car accident claim in Colorado.