If you have become the victim of injury, or had property damaged by another individual, you may be considering suit for recovery of your damages. When filing a claim for damages with an insurance company, or filing suit for damages, your claim will need to outline the degree of care the at-fault individuals failed to take. In other words, is the definition of the degree of care that will determine the type of negligence case you will be filing.
As a general rule, the courts, and insurance companies, view negligence in terms of three levels of degree of care. First, there is the consideration of slight negligence which involves the simple failure to exercise care. Beyond slight negligence, the degree of care violation may involve ordinary negligence, defined as a failure to exercise “reasonable” care. And, finally, there is the case of gross negligence, in which the person, or entity, failed to extend very slight care. Of these three degrees of care, the claim of gross negligence often leads to the most severe or drastic outcomes as it carries the heaviest burden of proof and associated claim for damages.
In slight negligence, the claim is generally applied to those individuals, or entities, that are required to supply a great degree of care and fail to miss a detail which often results in some type of minor or slight injury. With ordinary negligence, the degree of care lost involves damages that are attributed to the varying lack of care and is based upon an assessment of what an ordinarily prudent person may have done.
Gross negligence, the most severe of the three types of care deficiencies, involves the type of negligence that is considered aggravated and is far more negligent that simple or ordinary negligence. An example of gross negligence involves the death of an employee on a job site, where the equipment used may not have been in proper working order or may have been damaged through some other cause. When the lack of care is found to fall within the realm of gross negligence, the next issue to be addressed involves the issue of intentional action, or intentional inaction, which then adds an additional element to the case involving intentional tort.
When seeking damages for an injury property liability case, it is important to speak with an attorney regarding your legal options. In many cases, the complications arising out of filing this type of claim lies in the best way to declare your type of negligence based upon the degree of care the at-fault party failed to take. When considering options, consult with an attorney and be certain to address the negligence level to be filed, including slight negligence, ordinary negligence, or gross negligence.
