The at-fault party whom you bring the claim against must have owed you a duty of care. As mentioned, motorists owe one another a significant duty of care, but it doesn’t stop there. Commercial business owners and managers also owe their visitors, customers, clients, and other invited guests a duty of care that extends to maintaining their premises in the reasonably safe condition necessary to allow for safe passage of these guests. If the property in question is boarded up with caution signs warning you to stay out, the duty of care the property owner owes you is likely far less than the duty of care that is owed to you by the manager of a grocery store in which a spill that was left unattended caused you to slip and fall. There are many situations in which we owe one another a duty of care, and failure to live up to this important responsibility can result in personal injury claims.

In order to bring a personal injury claim, the party whom you file your claim against must have breached the duty of care that he or she owed you. For example, if a drunk driver caused you to be injured, his or her negligence amounts to a breach in the duty of care owed to you, which fulfills this element of your personal injury claim. The standard for property owners – in premises liability claims, such as slip and falls – is the level of care that other reasonable property owners apply in similar situations. If the actions of the property owner in question do not comport with the standards set by most other property owners (who face the same kind of circumstances), it can amount to a breach in the duty of care owed.

It is not enough that someone negligently breaches the duty of care that he or she owes you. In order to bring a personal injury claim, the negligence involved (or the breach in the duty of care owed) must lead to injuries. For example, if you slip and fall in a restaurant (on a spill that should have already been cleaned up) and suffer a broken leg, the restaurant owner’s negligence caused you to be injured, and this element of your personal injury claim is met.

Finally, the injuries that you suffer as a result of the other person’s negligence must cause you to suffer actual legal damages (or losses), which can include:

• Property damage (such as to your vehicle in a car accident)
• Medical costs
• Lost wages
• Pain and suffering

In order to fully recover compensation for the losses you’ve suffered, you’ll need to ensure that your damages are well represented in your personal injury claim, and if the accident that leaves you injured was fairly serious, you can expect your damages to be extensive.

Serious accidents often cause serious injuries that can lead to dangerous secondary health concerns and to the need for ongoing medical attention, all of which translate to steep medical costs. Consider the following common medical expenses:

• Emergency treatment at the scene of the accident and emergency transportation from the scene of the accident
• Surgical care and follow-up care
• Hospitalization
• Medical tests, procedures, and treatments
• Treatment and care from doctors, specialists, and medical professionals
• Physical therapy
• Occupational therapy
• Rehabilitation
• Pain management
• Adaptive physical devices and adaptions to home and car
• Home health care
• Assistance with the activities of daily living

Settling your claim before your prognosis is established and your future medical needs are understood can leave you in a very difficult position. Experienced personal injury lawyers are well versed at helping clients better understand their overall medical costs and at ensuring that these expenses are well represented in their personal injury claims.

While you tend to your physical injuries and the medical care that you need, you will likely be off the job and may experience a considerable loss in earnings, which can be financially devastating. If these losses lead to a decrease in your ability to earn overall and/or to an altered career trajectory, your losses can be even more significant – and more difficult to overcome.

The pain and suffering associated with personal injury claims are often one of the most difficult categories of loss to quantify and qualify, but your pain and suffering can also be one of the most difficult damages to overcome. The psychic pain that is often addressed in personal injury claims can include any combination of the following:

• Severe mood swings
• Emotional lability that can include crying jags and depressive episodes
• Increased anxiety and  panic attacks
• Sleep disturbances that can include nightmares or night terrors
• Accident flashbacks
• Feelings of hopelessness
• A tendency to push others away and/or to self-isolate

Another unfortunate aspect of these negative consequences is that they can distance you from the members of your support team just when you need their support the most.

A good way to address the elements of a personal injury claim is via an example, and because traffic accidents are so common, a car accident represents an excellent example.

Every motorist on the road is responsible for driving safely, following the rules of the road, and generally allowing everyone else on the road safe passage, and when driver negligence interferes with this responsibility, it amounts to a breach in the duty of care owed. The duty of care that one driver owes another is generally quite easy to establish, but determining who is at fault for any given accident can be more challenging.

Driver negligence generally represents the duty of care that has been breached in a car accident. Common forms of driver negligence include:

• Distraction – When a driver’s attention is focussed on anything other than the task of driving safely, he or she greatly increases the risk that a dangerous accident will occur. The most startling and dangerous distraction of all is texting behind the wheel, which interweaves all three forms of distraction (cognitive, physical, and visual) and translates to driving blind for an average of five seconds (for each text that is read or sent).
• Impairment – While there is no doubt about just how dangerous driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs is, some motorists continue to engage in the deadly habit.
• Exhaustion – Drivers who are impaired by exhaustion can experience cognitive and physical deficits that rival those of drunk drivers and that make them especially dangerous drivers.
• Excess Speed – Excess speed makes whatever risk you encounter on the road that much more dangerous. When a driver speeds dangerously, he or she helps to ensure not only that car accidents are more likely to happen but also that they are more likely to be fatal.
• Aggressive – Aggressive drivers throw the duty of care they owe other drivers out the window and often proceed to drive as recklessly as they can manage. The hallmark of aggressive driving is speeding dangerously, but aggressive drivers tend to engage in multiple dangerous practices behind the wheel.

The immense impact of even a relatively minor car accident can cause very serious injuries that can take nearly any form, but some of the most common types include:

• Broken Bones – The power and energy behind car accidents can easily lead to broken bones, which are painful injuries that are slow to heal and that can also lead to serious secondary health concerns, such as chronic pain and physical limitations.
• Traumatic Head Injuries – Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) are typically caused by either a blow to the head or by the severe shaking of the head, and because they affect the brain, these injuries are dangerously unpredictable and can lead to a lifetime of healthcare needs.
• Spinal Cord Injuries – Spinal cord injuries are generally caused by a blow to the head, neck, or shoulders, and even when relatively mild, they are closely associated with serious pain and serious decreases in range of motion. When the damage to the spinal cord is severe, it can lead to permanent paralysis.
• Cuts and Burns – The energy and heat generated by car accidents are closely associated with severe cuts and burns, which are painful injuries that are susceptible to dangerous infections, and that can lead to permanent disfigurement.

It is not difficult to imagine the severe damages that victims of car accidents suffer, including property damage to their vehicles, medical costs that are often ongoing, losses in earning potential, and immense pain and suffering.