I’m Herb Friedman of Friedman Law Offices in Lincoln, Nebraska. Thanks for visiting our blog. Many of our clients ask what the term “negligence” really means. It is frequently applied in motor vehicle cases as well as other types of lawsuits. Negligence is what is referred to in law as a tort, and a tort is a civil wrong inflicted by one person on another. Negligence is one of several kinds of torts, the others being intentional conduct and strict liability. Most tort cases deal with negligence, and negligence is nothing more than one person acting in a manner that a reasonably prudent person would not have acted, or not acting as a reasonably prudent would have acted.
A simple example of this is that a reasonably prudent person would not run a stop sign and drive into the middle of an intersection with oncoming traffic. This is behavior that a reasonably prudent person would not do. On the other hand, if a person left a large, deep hole in their sidewalk without putting up a warning and someone falls into the hole, this is what a reasonably prudent would not have done, and, of course, in order to establish a claim, the conduct of the defendant who committed the negligence must have directly cause the injury complained of by the plaintiff or the injured party. The concept of negligence dates back to biblical times, and is certainly nothing new.
If you have any questions, please call Friedman Law Offices at 800-876-1093. There is never a charge to find out if we can help you (find out if you have a case). Feel free to leave a comment here on our blog, and use the share button if you know someone who might benefit from this information. Thanks for logging in.