LAWYER HELPLINE: ☎ 855 804 7142

There are over 500,000 motor vehicle collisions in Canada every year which cause almost 250,000 people to be injured, over 20,000 of which are critical injuries of which about 3,000 are fatalities. There are about 8 deaths every day on Canadian roads and there is a serious injury every 2 minutes resulting in over 100,000 claims for compensation ever year in Canada. If you would like to talk to a Kingston car accident lawyer without further obligation then just use the helpline or send the contact form or email our offices and a Kingston car accident lawyer who deals exclusively in personal injury accident claims will speak to you with free advice and information on how best to preserve your legal rights to compensation for your injuries.

Kingston Car Accident Lawyer - Negligence>

 

Whenever an accident or injury happens, it often results in an injured or killed party and with a family that is left to pick up the pieces. Why did the accident happen? Was the accident or injury the result of someone else’s actions? These are questions that are best left to the personal injury lawyer the family hires to investigate the case to see if negligence was involved.

In order for a family to request that a compensation claim be filed before the court, the personal injury lawyer must show that negligence existed with regard to the accident and that the injured party suffered some losses as a result of the accident.

Negligence is demonstrated by showing that the person who caused the accident acted or behaved in such a way that no reasonable person would have done given the same set of circumstances. For example, running a red light is not reasonable and no reasonable person would do it. If the person who caused the accident ran a red light and caused an accident, then negligence might be proven.

In order to further prove negligence, the Kingston car accident lawyer must show that there existed a duty of care between the person who caused the accident and the injured party. In the above example, you must know that every motorist has the duty of care to drive in such a manner as to avoid injuring or killing every other motorist or pedestrian on the road. This means that running a red light displayed a lack of deference to the duty of care issue.

Furthermore, the Kingston car accident lawyer must show that something in the behavior of the person who caused the accident did, in fact, breach the duty of care. The red light runner who caused an injury accident had behavior that did not meet acceptable standards for a licensed driver. Incidentally, the breach of the duty of care does not have to be shown by means of a traffic ticket. Even if the motorist did not, for some reason, receive a traffic ticket, the breach of the duty of care can still be shown.

As mentioned above, there must be losses before a compensation claim can be filed. The losses can be monetary, such as the cost to repair a car or medical costs incurred. The losses can also be non-monetary, such as the loss that happens during pain and suffering or the loss one feels because they can no longer participate in their favorite hobby. While these latter things have no intrinsic monetary value, it is the job of the personal injury attorney to assign a monetary value to them, even if the number is somewhat arbitrary.

If negligence and losses can be shown, the Kingston car accident lawyer must tally the value of the damages in order to make the claim. A claim consists of three portions: specific damages, general damages and punitive damages. Special damages are things like lost wages and the loss of future wages. These things are considered special damages because they have an identifiable monetary value attached to them.

With general damages, establishing a monetary value to the damages is not so easy. How much does pain and suffering cost and what is the cost of being unable to advance in one’s career or being unable to participate fully in the activities of daily living? These damages can be difficult to turn into a monetary loss. Nevertheless, it must be done to be included in the claim.

Punitive damages are a way to punish the person who caused the accident for their poor behavior. If the running of the red light was intentional or malicious in nature, then punitive damages may be added to the claim.

LAWYER HELPLINE: ☎ 855 804 7142