Lawsuits provide a possible solution to any claimants that have failed to reach a negotiated settlement with the opposing party in a personal injury case. The person that files a lawsuit stands ready to take his or her case to court.

Initial steps in filing a lawsuit

First check on the details in your state’s statute of limitations. What is the deadline for filing a lawsuit; have you missed the deadline? Next file your complaint and summons in the proper branch of the civil court system. Get ready to work closely with a Personal Injury Lawyer in Mississauga, so that the 2 of you can secure evidence of the defendant’s negligence.

What elements of negligence must be proven, if the plaintiff hopes to win the filed lawsuit?

The plaintiff must show that the defendant had a duty of care with respect to the plaintiff. In other words, the court needs evidence of the fact that the defendant was supposed to avoid harming the plaintiff in any way. The legal system recognizes certain relationships as those that create the need for one party to care for an opposite party. What was the plaintiff’s relationship with the defendant? Did it qualify as one of those that have been recognized by the legal system?

Plaintiffs that have produced evidence of the defendant’s duty of care must then provide the court with evidence of 2 other elements of negligence. The first of those second 2 elements concerns the defendant’s actions. Did those actions demonstrate a readiness to breach the recognized duty of care?

That breach could take one of 2 forms. It could be that one of the defendant’s actions ran counter to the any of the expected actions. It could also be that the absence of an expected action qualified as a breach. The plaintiff’s ability to show the existence of the first 2 elements does not push the court to support allegations of the defendant’s negligence. In order to obtain such support, one further element needs to be added to the plaintiff’s evidence. That last element concerns the effect of the recognized breach.

Normally, anyone that has assumed the role of plaintiff in a personal injury lawsuit has suffered some type of injury. The plaintiff’s effort to show one further element of negligence needs concentrate on the same injury. Can it be shown that the defendant’s breach caused the harm that injured the plaintiff?

It is not enough to show that the responsible party displayed careless and neglectful behavior. Evidence of such a display does not qualify as proof of negligence. That proof requires the support of evidence that the same carless and neglectful behavior caused harm to the plaintiff, allowing for the plaintiff’s injury.