Uncategorized - December 15, 2024

What Evidence Do You Need to Support an Injury Claim in Georgia?

If you’ve been injured by someone else’s negligence, you are owed compensation for your damages and losses. It’s important that you be able to prove your damages, however, and this means that you will need evidence. An Atlanta injury lawyer can give you specific direction and advice about what evidence will be most useful in your case.

From an Atlanta Injury Lawyer: What Evidence Do You Need to Support an Injury Claim in Georgia?

Evidence To Prove Duty of Care

There are four things that every injury claim has to prove: duty of care, breach of that duty, causation, and damages. The first thing to prove is that the other party owed you a duty of care. The precise evidence that you will need here depends on the nature of the accident.

For example, in a car accident, duty of care is assumed in that everyone who is on the road is required to obey the traffic laws and to avoid driving while impaired or distracted. In a premises liability case, you would need to prove who it was that had a duty to fix known hazards on the premises or to warn you about any hazards.

Evidence to Prove Breach of Duty

Proving duty of care is relatively easy; proving breach of duty can be very easy or can be very difficult, depending entirely on the situation. For example, in some car accidents, it’s crystal clear that the duty of care was violated. There may be video evidence, for example, of the other driver running a red light or texting while driving. Or, they may be charged with a DUI at the scene for being intoxicated.

In premises liability, the question often becomes whether the person responsible for fixing hazards knew about the hazard that caused an accident or should reasonably have been expected to know about it. For example, if another customer at a store spilled their coffee moments before you came around the corner, and you slipped on this coffee and injured yourself, it’s unlikely that you could prove the store owner breached their duty of care to you. There simply was not enough time for them to know about the spill. If, however, that spill had happened an hour prior, and your lawyer is able to prove this with video security footage or the testimony of witnesses, then you may have a strong case that there was a breach in the duty of care.

Evidence to Prove Causation

Just because someone had a duty of care towards you, and even proving that they breached the duty of care, is not enough. You must also be able to prove that it was this breach in the duty of care which caused the accident. The breach could have caused the accident either directly or indirectly. If directly, you are proving that “but for” the defendant’s actions or inaction, the accident would never have happened. If indirectly, you are proving that the accident was a natural unforeseeable consequence of the defendant’s behavior.

So, for example, if a driver runs a red light and slams into you, that is a direct causation. “But for” their running the red light, you would not have been injured. You would usually prove something like this via witness testimony, video evidence from the site, or the testimony of accident reconstruction experts looking over photos of the scene.

Evidence to Prove Damages

The last element that you must prove is that the accident which was caused by the breach of duty on the part of the negligent person caused you actual damages. This is a fairly easy thing to prove, as you will usually be using your medical bills, wage or salary history, and receipts from other expenses to show definitively what you have lost as a result of the accident. The only complicating factor here is making sure that you clearly demonstrate that the losses you are claiming damages for were definitely caused by the accident in question.

If, for example, you did not go to the doctor for three or four days after an accident, this opens up a window for the insurance company or liable party to argue that you were not actually injured in the accident itself. To avoid this happening, it’s always wise to get medical help as soon as you’re involved in any kind of accident.

If you’ve been injured and are bringing a personal injury claim, we can help. At T. Madden & Associates, we understand that these injuries are devastating, personally and financially, and that you are often up against an insurance company that is fighting you every step of the way as you seek fair compensation for your losses. We can help you fight back. Contact T. Madden & Associates in Atlanta today for compassionate, personalized help with your case.