Examples of Proximate Cause in a Personal Injury Case
If you have been hurt in an accident in Charlotte, NC, you may be entitled to recover compensation for your injuries. However, you must be able to prove causation. This means that someone else caused and can be held legally responsible for your injuries.
Proximate cause is a fundamental component of the causation element in a personal injury claim. Continue reading to gain a comprehensive understanding of this concept.
What Is Proximate Cause?
Most personal injury claims are based on negligence.
Negligence requires proving:
- Duty of care
- Breach of duty
- Causation
- Damages
The element of causation typically includes both direct and proximate cause. Direct causation, or “cause-in-fact,” is fairly straightforward. This means that “but for” the defendant’s actions, you would not have suffered your injury. For instance, if you are hit in a rear-end collision, the car accident is likely a direct cause of your whiplash injury.
Proximate cause is a little more complex. Proving proximate cause requires showing that your injuries were a foreseeable consequence of the defendant’s actions. For instance, imagine in the example above that the defendant rear-ended you because they were texting while driving. The resulting accident and your whiplash would be a foreseeable consequence of texting and not paying attention to the road.
Examples Involving Proximate Cause
Proximate cause exists when the harm that occurred was a foreseeable result of someone’s negligent actions. In many car accident cases, this is not difficult to understand.
If a driver is texting, fails to pay attention to traffic, and rear-ends another vehicle, injuries such as whiplash, back pain, or a concussion are the kind of harms a court would likely view as foreseeable. In that situation, the at-fault driver could likely be held responsible for those injuries.
By contrast, proximate cause may not exist when the chain of events becomes too unusual or unexpected. For example, if a minor collision somehow triggers a highly unusual event that injures people far beyond the normal scope of the crash, a court may find that those later injuries were not a foreseeable result of the original negligence.
In other words, the law usually holds people responsible for the natural and expected consequences of their actions, not every remote or extraordinary result.
Applying Proximate Cause to Your Injury Claim
Understanding proximate cause can be challenging, and applying it to your personal injury claim can be even more challenging. Since the success of your claim may depend on whether or not you can prove proximate cause, it is always a good idea to get help from an experienced personal injury lawyer.
Your lawyer can help you establish proximate cause based on the type of accident claim that you have, including:
- Car accidents
- Truck accidents
- Catastrophic injury claims
- Slip and fall accidents
- Dog bites
- Motorcycle accidents
- Workplace accidents
Different types of accidents may require proving proximate cause in different ways. Your lawyer can help you establish this important fact so that you can have the best chance of being successful with your claim.
Types of Evidence Used to Establish Proximate Cause
Causation in personal injury claims must be proven by a preponderance of the evidence. This means having enough evidence on your side to make your version of the facts more likely true than not.
Some common types of evidence used to prove proximate cause are:
- Your own testimony
- Witness testimony
- The defendant’s testimony
- Expert testimony
- Medical records
- Photos or surveillance footage
Whether or not you can use a particular piece of evidence depends on the North Carolina rules of evidence. Your lawyer can help you understand the types of evidence that will be allowed in your case.
Contact the Charlotte Personal Injury Lawyers at Chandler Volta Personal Injury Lawyers for Help Today
Proximate cause can play a major role in whether a personal injury claim succeeds. If you cannot show that your injuries were a foreseeable result of someone else’s actions, recovering compensation may be much harder.
Chandler Volta Personal Injury Lawyers helps injured people in Charlotte understand the legal issues that affect their cases, including causation and liability. If you were hurt in an accident and have questions about your right to recover compensation, contact our Charlotte personal injury lawyers today to schedule a free consultation.
We proudly serve clients in Charlotte, NC, Mecklenburg County, and its surrounding areas:
Chandler Volta Personal Injury Lawyers
1244 East Blvd, Charlotte, NC 28203
(704) 980-9999
24/7