The ability to prove negligence is one of the most critical factors needed to win compensation in a personal injury lawsuit. It must be proven that the at-fault person had a particular duty of care to you and that they breached that duty. In other words, you have to prove that the party you want to sue acted negligently in some way and that you suffered substantial injuries as a direct result of that negligence. 

Examples of Negligence or Breach of Duty of Care

Car accidents are one of the most common bases for a personal injury lawsuit. Drivers have a duty of care to other people on the street to drive with reasonable care and obey traffic laws. If a pedestrian lawfully crosses a street on a green light in a designated crosswalk and a driver on the cross street runs a red light and strikes the pedestrian, the driver would be considered at fault. 

Similarly, a business owner has a duty of care to their customers to maintain their facilities in a reasonably safe condition. If a customer suffered a severe head injury because an improperly-secured shelf fell, the store owner would likely be held liable for the customer’s injuries because they had a duty of care to make sure that their premises were free of dangerous hazards.

Federal investigators are combing regions of eastern Pennsylvania for pieces of an airplane this week, following an explosive, mid-air engine failure that left one passenger dead and many others shaken. Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board said that debris and engine components fell from the sky along the plane’s flight path as it headed for an emergency landing in Philadelphia on Tuesday. They are asking for the general public’s help in locating all of the pieces so that a full investigation into the fatal accident can be completed.

A Deadly Incident

The failure took place shortly after takeoff on a Southwest Airlines flight headed from New York’s LaGuardia Airport to Dallas Love Field. The aircraft had just passed 32,500 feet and was still climbing over the Allentown area of Pennsylvania when officials say that a fan blade in the left engine broke loose. The broken blade caused a violent chain reaction which sent parts and debris flying. One piece of shrapnel shattered a window overlooking the wing, and the woman in the closest seat was violently sucked into the hole. Other passengers pulled the woman back into the plane, but her injuries proved to be fatal. She died at a Philadelphia-area hospital later the same day.