If you’ve been injured in an accident in St. Louis, you can pursue monetary damages through a personal injury claim, but to win a personal injury case, you will need to prove the elements of negligence: duty, breach of duty, causation, and damages.
Causation is often the most highly contested element of a negligence claim. A personal injury claimant must show that there was a chain of causation between the defendant’s actions and their injuries. Without that proof, the chain is broken, and a personal injury claim can fail. This article will explore what causation is, how to prove it, and when to contact an attorney for help.
What Is Causation?
Causation is usually the key element in a personal injury claim. Before an injured victim can obtain financial compensation from the at-fault party to an accident, they’ll need to show that the other party’s actions were responsible for causing the accident.
For example, if a person ran a red light and hit your car as a result, you could show causation between their failure to stop and your damages. However, if you were involved in a multi-vehicle accident, it can be harder to prove that one of the other drivers caused your injuries.
Causation can be a complicated issue. It involves two key questions:
- Did the defendant’s action (or a failure to act) actually cause foreseeable injuries to the accident victim?
- Would the victim have avoided injury if not for the defendant’s conduct?
These questions cover the issues of “direct cause” and “proximate cause” in a negligence claim. If you can answer “yes” to both of these questions based on the evidence, you could prove the causation element in your personal injury case.
Proving the Elements of a Negligence Claim
Most personal injury cases involve negligence. Negligence is when someone or some entity does not use reasonable care and caution to avoid an accident.
Plaintiffs must use evidence to prove four elements in a negligence case:
- Duty of care: People owe certain duties of care to others, based on the situation. Drivers owe duties to follow traffic laws and avoid car accidents, while doctors owe duties to their patients to act as a reasonable doctor would.
- Breach of duty: If someone does not follow the duty of care expected of them, they could have breached their duty. If breach is proven, the defendant can be held responsible for what happens as a result.
- Causation: There needs to be both direct and proximate cause between the at-fault party’s action and the accident victim’s injuries. There must be an unbroken chain of causation between the other person’s actions and the victim’s damages.
- Damages: Damages are often shown through medical bills, property damage, proof of lost income, expert testimony, and other methods. Damages can be economic or non-economic in nature.
All four of these elements must be proven in order to prevail on a personal injury claim based on negligence.
Proving Causation in a Personal Injury Claim
Two ways to prove causation in a personal injury claim include the “but for” test and the “substantial factor” test.
“But for Test”
Under the “but for” test, a court would look at whether the plaintiff’s injuries would have occurred “but for” the defendant’s conduct. For example, if a driver runs through a stop sign and hits another driver at the intersection, the injured driver would not have been harmed “but for” the actions of the at-fault driver. If the injured victim also failed to stop at the intersection when they were supposed to, the damages could not be blamed solely on the other driver.
“Substantial Factor Test”
Under the “substantial factor” test, the question becomes: was the defendant’s conduct a substantial factor in causing the plaintiff’s injuries? For example, after a multi-vehicle accident, the main issue would be whether the driver blamed for the accident played a substantial role in causing the accident. If weather conditions or actions of other drivers were also involved, the defendant’s actions might not have been a substantial factor in the accident.
When considering causation, courts also might look to whether the plaintiff’s injuries were a foreseeable result of the defendant’s actions. If the plaintiff’s injuries were a coincidence or could not have been foreseen by a reasonable person in the defendant’s situation, causation could be disproven due to the lack of foreseeability.
An experienced personal injury lawyer will use witness statements, photographs, video footage, and other forms of evidence to help prove causation in your negligence claim.
Contact a St. Louis Personal Injury Lawyer to Schedule a Free Consultation
If you were injured in any type of accident in St. Louis, Missouri, you could be entitled to financial compensation. However, you would first need to prove causation—one of the key elements of negligence. The dedicated personal injury lawyers at Eason Car Accident and Personal Injury Lawyers can help you understand your legal rights and navigate the legal process. Contact our law office today at (314) 932-1066 to schedule your free consultation.