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Most regular people are held to the “reasonable person” standard, which asks what a reasonable person would do in similar circumstances. What standard of care is required also depends on the relationship between the parties involved. Once that duty has been established, whether there was a breach is determined by asking “did the defendant breach the duty owed to the plaintiff-in other words, did the defendant fail to exercise the level of care required of them?” This can include the relationship between a doctor and patient, a landowner and a visitor, or someone with custody of another.
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Whether or not there is such a duty can depend on many things, but generally, it exists when there’s a special relationship between the defendant and the plaintiff. In negligence, a duty is the legal obligation to conform your conduct to a particular standard of care. The first two elements of a negligence case are closely related because, in order to breach a duty, you need to have that duty in the first place. The causation element can sometimes consist of two parts: proximate causation and actual causation.Įlements of Negligence include: Duty & Breach –
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However, anyone who has practiced law in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania knows that proximate cause can be separated into two parts under certain circumstances. In law school, students are taught that there are 4 elements of negligence: duty, breach of duty, damages, and causation.Įssentially, you can bring a lawsuit for negligence if the defendant had a duty to be careful around you, the defendant breached that duty of care, you suffered injury, and the defendant’s conduct was the proximate cause of the harm.