Ordinary negligence is a legal standard used in civil law to determine liability for damages. It is the failure to exercise reasonable care to protect the plaintiff. A plaintiff must prove duty of care, breach of duty, causation, and damages to receive compensation. Damages can be special, general, or punitive.
Ordinary negligence is a common law standard most frequently used in civil law to set a standard under which a defendant can be held liable for damages suffered by the victim or plaintiff. Substandard negligence and gross negligence are also occasionally used in tort law to mean a lower or higher standard of care than ordinary negligence. When a defendant is found negligent, he is generally ordered to pay monetary damages to the plaintiff.
Courts have used a variety of terms in trying to define ordinary negligence. Basically, ordinary negligence is the failure of the defendant to exercise reasonable care to protect the plaintiff in the circumstances. Ordinary negligence can occur when a defendant does something a reasonable person would not have done under similar circumstances or when a defendant fails to do something a reasonable person would have done.
An ordinary malpractice case requires the plaintiff to prove four things in order to obtain compensation for his injuries. These four elements are known as duty of care, breach of duty, causation, and damages. Some jurisdictions also add proximate cause as a fifth element, but most simplify the elements to four. Failure to prove all four elements means that the plaintiff will not receive anything for his injuries.
The duty of care requires the plaintiff to show that the defendant was legally required to protect him from reasonably foreseeable harm. The breach of the duty of care can be proven if the defendant knowingly exposed the plaintiff to damage or if the defendant should have been aware of the damage and did not. The plaintiff must then demonstrate that the damage actually suffered is the direct consequence of the defendant’s breach of duty of care. Finally, the plaintiff must have suffered “damage” or injury as a result of the defendant’s acts or omissions.
Damages awarded for ordinary negligence may be special, general or punitive. Special damages, sometimes referred to as economic damages, are quantifiable. Examples of special damages include medical bills or loss of wages. General damages, or non-economic damages, are intended to compensate the plaintiff for non-quantifiable injuries such as emotional distress or pain and suffering. Punitive damages are not intended to compensate the plaintiff but to punish the victim and are generally awarded only in cases of gross negligence.
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