In Georgia, a breach of duty occurs when a defendant or at-fault party fails to meet the duty of care, which then leads to injury or damages. The concept of reasonable care is central to both a strict liability and negligence case, where the defendant’s conduct is scrutinized to determine if they acted in a way that a reasonable person would not have in the same circumstances or in similar settings. To recover compensation, the plaintiff must demonstrate that the defendant breached their duty and that breach of duty caused the injuries or damages, among other elements that we will cover. Understanding how the defendant’s conduct deviated from the standard of reasonable care is crucial to prove negligence and pursue a successful negligence claim in Georgia.
Contact an experienced attorney at the Sandy Springs personal injury law firm, Ashenden & Associates, P.C., for a free consultation.
Breach of Duty Definition
Under Georgia law, “breach of duty” refers to a situation in which a real person or entity is in violation of a legal responsibility. This is a law designed to protect an injury victim from entities or people who disregard other’s rights.
For Georgia personal injury cases, this is one of the four elements of a negligence claim. So, if any duty occurs legally and a defendant breached this duty, he or she bares legal responsibility.
What is a Breach of Duty of Care in Georgia?
According to the Georgia General Assembly, a duty of care means that an entity or person has a valid, legal responsibility to avoid injuring or avoid harming others. Duty of care can emerge from law, a custom, or a relationship. In Georgia, a breach of duty of care can occur in various contexts, including medical negligence, strict liability, premises liability and personal injury cases.
Certain elements must be satisfied in Georgia civil cases.
Establishing that a person owes a duty of care to another is one element of the negligence case. Another important element of the negligence case is that the party breached this duty. The defendant’s breach of duty must also result in injury or harm to the accident victim for them to recover compensation.
Understanding how a real person would have acted differently from the defendant under the same circumstances or similar circumstances is critical to prove negligence in neglecting the legal duty.
The Reasonable Person Standard and Duty of Care
The reasonable person standard is a key for establishing a breach of duty of care under Georgia law. This standard evaluates what a reasonable person would do in the same circumstances or similar circumstances to determine whether the defendant’s actions satisfied the legal duty of care.
However, the reasonable person doctrine doesn’t apply to minors, who are judged differently under Georgia law.
In Georgia, the reasonable person standard is used to assess whether a defendant acted with reasonable care. For example, a reasonable person would drive safely and obey traffic laws, maintain a safe property, and in general, use common sense to avoid harming others.
However, Georgia law recognizes that children do not understand inherent risks. Since children cannot understand any duty of care, how could they uphold it?
Under attractive nuisance laws in Georgia, property owners must protect children from dangerous conditions. Georgia property owners can be held liable if they fail to secure dangerous conditions on their property, recognizing that children are unable to understand the foreseeable risk.
Contact a Sandy Springs child injury lawyer for more information on Georgia’s attractive nuisance laws.
What is a Fiduciary Duty?
A fiduciary duty is a legal obligation that arises in relationships where one party has a heightened responsibility to act in the best interests of another party. Below our personal injury lawyer group explains the when a fiduciary duty of care exists.
Breach of Duty in Personal Injury Cases: This generally refers to a failure to uphold a standard of care or responsibility that one person owes to another. This applies broadly across different contexts, such as cases involving wild animal ownership, car accident, or failure to meet a legal obligation. In Georgia, a breach of duty is established by proving someone owed a duty of care, the party breached that duty, leading to the plaintiff’s injuries.
For example, if a property owner fails to fence their yard adequately, knowing that this failure could lead to potential harm, when a dog bites sometime, the owner can be held responsible in wild animal ownership or property ownership cases.
Breach of Fiduciary Duty: This applies when a person in a fiduciary relationship fails to act in the best interests of another party. Examples can include executors, attorneys, corporate officers, trustees, etc.
What Constitutes a Breach of Fiduciary Duty in Medical Malpractice Claims?
A breach of fiduciary duty in medical malpractice claims occurs when a doctor or medical care professional does not provide the expected standard of medical care, leading to a patient’s harm. This could involve misdiagnosis, improper treatment, etc.
Medical malpractice lawyers in Sandy Springs can help seek justice if a party breached the standard of care and you’ve been harmed because of their negligence.
How to Establish Liability for Negligence
To establish liability in a negligence case, you must prove involves proving the at fault party owed a duty of care, breached that duty, and caused harm as a result. Each element must be demonstrated to hold the defendant accountable and secure compensation for the injured party.
The Defendant Owed a Duty of Care
Proving that the defendant owed a duty of care is the first step in a negligence claim. This duty arises in various situations, such as a driver’s obligation to obey traffic laws or a property owner’s responsibility to maintain safe premises. When a duty of care exists, it sets the foundation to prove negligence.
In some cases, the defendant volunteered to take on a responsibility, thereby establishing a duty of care. For instance, if a neighbor volunteers to watch over someone’s children, they assume a duty to ensure the children’s safety. Establishing how the party volunteered or was obligated to avoid injuring the plaintiff is crucial in proving negligence.
The Defendant Breached the Duty of Care
Once a duty of care is established, the personal injury lawyer must prove that the defendant breached this duty. The breach of duty occurs when the defendant’s conduct falls short of what a reasonable person would do under the same or similar circumstances. Using common sense, one can see the importance of addressing a foreseeable risk to avoid injuring others.
Examples include a store owner failing to clean up a wet floor or a driver’s failure to drive safely by running a red light.
The Defendant’s Breach Caused Harm
Causation links the defendant’s breach of duty to the serious harm suffered by the plaintiff. This can include physical injuries, emotional distress, or financial losses. It must be demonstrated the breach directly resulted in injury or damage.
For instance, if other drivers’ failure to obey traffic laws causes a car accident, this breach directly leads to the plaintiff’s injuries.
The Plaintiff Suffered Injuries or Damages
Finally, the plaintiff must show that they suffered actual injuries or damages due to the defendant’s breach. This can include physical injuries, emotional distress, or financial losses. Without proving these damages, a negligence claim cannot succeed.
It must be demonstrated that the duty caused harm to the plaintiff, establishing that the party owed a responsibility that was neglected. In cases where the defendant’s actions are particularly egregious, they can be held strictly liable for the damages.
Breach of Duty of Care Examples
Here are a few common examples:
- Traffic laws in Georgia legally impose a duty on drivers, so drivers owe other drivers a duty of care to drive safely and obey traffic laws. When drivers fail to obey Georgia’s traffic laws and this failure results in an accident that results in serious harm to other drivers, the driver has breached their duty to drive safely.
- Property owners have a duty to keep their property safe. If a property owner doesn’t address hazardous conditions on their property, they have breached the duty to maintain safe premises.
Accident victims can seek help from a Sandy Springs premises liability lawyer to understand their rights.
How a Breach of Duty Occurs in a Strict Liability Case
In a strict liability case, the defendant can be held strictly liable without proving negligence. This is because the behaviors were inherently dangerous, prohibited, or against the law.
Examples of strict liability:
- Product liability cases: Product manufacturers and distributors have a duty of care to ensure products do not harm consumers. Under product liability, manufacturers or distributors of defective products can be held strictly liable.
- Abnormally dangerous activities: These are inherently dangerous activities such as experimenting with explosives, nuclear power, and other abnormally dangerous activities reasonable people would not explore, as they carry a major risk of foreseeable harm. In these cases, the defendant will be held strictly liable to the injury victim.
- Wild animal ownership and dog bites: Wild animal ownership creates a foreseeable potential danger. If an animal, such as a dog, bites another person, the animal’s owner can be held strictly liable to the injury victim.
Duty Breach Causation Damages
This involves proving the defendant breached a legal responsibility, causing harm to an injury victim. In civil cases, property owners might face liability if hazardous conditions led to injury. A jury finds negligence by establishing the defendant’s duty breach directly caused damages.
In such a negligence case, our personal injury lawyer group can help secure a personal injury settlement in Atlanta.
How Our Sandy Springs Personal Injury Law Firm Can Help With Injury Claims
Our personal injury lawyer team understands the breach of duty. If you’ve been injured due to someone else’s negligence, our experienced personal injury lawyers in Sandy Springs and Atlanta can help. Whether dealing with strict liability cases or complex legal questions, our team is dedicated to assisting the accident victim. An experienced attorney from Ashenden & Associates will work diligently to ensure responsible parties are held liable and manage interactions with the insurance company.
Contact us today at 770-394-8909 to schedule your free consultation.
