If you have been hurt because of someone else, you may have a personal injury claim. The Law Office of Donn C. Dingle knows this can often be a stressful experience, and we will work hard for you so that you may focus on getting better.
Personal injury cases are based on someone’s being injured due to someone else’s action or lack of action. In short, the injured person must prove that the person committing the injury actually owed him or her a duty of care, which was disregarded by the negligence or intentional act of the other.
There are also all sorts of considerations when deciding who or why someone may be negligent.
Many clients have questions about visitors who come to their homes, whether they be guests or random visitors (salespeople). They ask whom they need to protect from harm (in other words, to whom they owe a duty of reasonable care). It used to be the case that homeowners owed a different duty of care for guests than for random visitors, but now both groups are owed the same duty of care: the homeowner must exercise reasonable care to make all visitors on her property safe not only from all known dangers but also from dangers that would be revealed upon inspection. (This is different from the trespasser, who is generally owed no duty, save for a duty not to engage in reckless or willful and wanton conduct. However, this heightened duty may not extend to the people who have been taking the “neighborhood shortcut” through your property for years or the schoolchildren who happen upon your swing set. These people are generally like random visitors)
Many forms of negligence deal with one person’s doing an act that accidentally harms another person, like going through a red light and colliding with a vehicle rightfully in the intersection.
Some forms of negligence may have to do with the wrongdoer’s not doing something that s/he was supposed to do, like when a landowner fails to clear the sidewalk in front of his property of snow and ice accumulation. Or consider the case of a supermarket slip and fall. In a supermarket slip and fall case, it would be important to know whether the slippery spill in the aisle, say, was noticeable and apparent and whether it was there for a long enough period of time for the store employees to discover it and clean it up.
Still, some forms of negligence are called so because the statute says so. For example, when someone hosts a party and allows a person to drink, there could be serious problems for the host if the person gets intoxicated and injures another person because of this intoxication. It is not as cut and dry as it sounds, though. Massachusetts has said that the host has to have had the right to exercise effective control over the person in order for the host to be liable.
These are just some of the many issues that comprise personal injury matters. If you find yourself in the midst of legal problems because of some act or failure to act, Let The Law Office of Donn C. Dingle help you chart your best course forward.
If you are injured because of another’s fault, we will help you have your gain for your pain.