A personal Injury lawyer Bethlehem handles claims involving physical or emotional injury to a person. These claims can arise out of things like car accidents, where property damage may be involved, but is far less than the personal injuries, or workplace injuries that involve no damage to the person’s property. There are generally four elements that a personal Injury lawyers in Bethlehem must prove to win a claim in court.
In order for a personal injury claim to succeed, the defendant must have owed a duty to the plaintiff. This is generally defined as owing the plaintiff the reasonable care that a random person on the street would have exercised in the situation. For example, there might not be a duty to drive a car at a rate of speed in excess of the speed limit. An employer might have a duty to their employees to maintain a safe working environment. A landlord might have a duty to their tenants to ensure there are no fire hazards.
In addition, that duty must be breached. In other words, even though a reasonable person would have done things that would have presented the injury, such as obeying the speed limit, the defendant intentionally, recklessly, or negligently ignored that duty.
Further, it must be shown that the breach of the duty resulted in the personal injury. If the defendant’s conduct didn’t cause the injury, it doesn’t matter what they did for the purposes of a lawsuit against them. For example, the defendant might be an employer who failed to supply his employees with helmets in violation of government safety regulations meant to protect workers from on the job injuries. If one of his employees suffers a foot injury on the job, the fact that the helmet rule was violated doesn’t matter because not having a helmet didn’t lead to the foot injury.
Finally, the personal injury must result in damages in order for there to be a claim in court. These damages primarily consist of medical expenses, lost wages, and any property damage that occurred. In special cases, damages for emotional distress or pain and suffering may also be awarded.
