PERSONAL INJURY : Negligence Defined

In order to establish a claim for the Tort of Negligence or “Personal Injury” in New York the claimant must prove that the person or party responsible, the “tortfeasor” had a duty of care to the claimant, that the tortfeasor breached that duty of care, and that the breach of duty led to the claimant sustaining an injury. The standard for determining whether the tortfeasor breached the duty of care falls on what a “reasonably prudent person” would have done under the circumstances. A breach can occur through the actions, or sometimes the non-actions of a party.

For example, a party who knows about a defective condition on his or her property, but fails to repair that defective condition within a certain amount of time could be held responsible if someone is injured as a result of that defect. The party’s non-actions in failing to repair the defect can lead to that party’s accountability in Court for the injury of the claimant. Causation is important to establish as well in Personal Injury actions. An injured party is required to show that but for the negligence of the tortfeasor, the injured party would not have become injured. Our personal injury attorney smithtown
 help you determine if your injury was the fault of another party, and therefore actionable, under New York law.