Overview
Negligence in simple terms means carelessness of any person, which creates the harm of another person. There is a legal duty to take care of any action when it is reasonably capable of being predicted.
Negligence torts are the most prevalent torts. Elements which describe the negligence torts are:-
- Duty of Care: A defendant must owe a duty of care to the plaintiff which must be recognized by law of land. In other words, one party must have to work in a certain manner towards the other party.
For example- All the taxi drivers have a duty of care to their customers as it is the duty of the taxi driver to take reasonable care to safeguard their customers from any risk occupied with the trip.
- Breach of Duty: When the defendant breaches the duty which he owes towards the plaintiff, then the defendant must be liable for the tort of negligence because it is the duty of the defendant to take reasonable action to fulfill his duty.
For example, A taxi driver driving the car after getting drunk which leads to an accident causing harm to Mr. Ram who was using the service of the taxi at that time. In this case, the taxi driver breached his duty of care hence liable for the tort of negligence.
- Cause in fact: The third element of negligence is the cause in fact. In the tort of negligence, it is the duty of the plaintiff to prove that the act done by the defendant, caused certain harm to the plaintiff. The main cause of the harm must arise due to the breach of the duty.
- Proximate cause: Proximate cause deals with the defendant’s liability in case of negligence. According to law, the defendant is liable only for those losses which can be foreseen by the defendant himself. If in any case, the plaintiff had suffered some loss which can’t be foreseen by the defendant in normal circumstances and is outside of the scope of the defendant, then the defendant will not be liable for the same.
For example, A taxi driver is only liable for the risk which can be reasonably foreseen by him in the normal course of action such as harm caused after drink and drive, Overspeed, etc. but the accident which can’t be foreseen by the driver will not be covered under the scope of negligence.
- Damages:- Legal harm is the essence of negligence, which could be in the form of physical injury or any monetary loss. Damages can be claimed only if there is any actual damage caused to the plaintiff.
Law provides certain defenses to the tort of negligence:-
- Contributory negligence:- Sometimes, the plaintiff himself contribute to the negligence which may lead to harm the plaintiff. This contribution is considered as a solid defense for the defendant and he is free from all his liabilities as the plaintiff is also a part of the nuisance caused. We can easily understand the concept of contributory negligence by the following case law:-
Butterfield v. Forrester, (1809) In this case defendant had put a pole across the road unlawfully and the plaintiff had struck with the pole while riding a bicycle and got some injury but the fact is that the pole is visible from the distance of 100 yards and plaintiff had enough time to prevent himself from this accident. It was held by the honorable court that the plaintiff can’t claim any damages since the plaintiff himself contributed to the negligence.
In civil law negligence the one referring to the law of torts, there are many elements of a negligence claim like duty, breach, causation, etc.. When someone is injured in an accident caused by the negligent party, that party can be sued for damages
Cause of action:
There are four elements of the negligence. where the plaintiff files a claim against a defendant, caused in the order to establish a claim of the negligence by the four elements;
- There was a duty of the plaintiff to perform some standard of conduct
- The defendant breached the right of the
- The of duty was both actual and immediate duty
- There is an actual, measurable, and probable monetary loss related to the damages. The defendant also files a suit against the plaintiff. There are other types of negligence related to defense. contributory negligence and comparative negligence.
Contributory negligence: it is the most commonly used by the defendant claim it to show contributory negligence
Example: a mine worker suffers serious burns to his face after his torch. another is comparative negligence. The doctrine of comparative negligence reduces plaintiff recovery. comparative negligence further divided into:
1. element
2. pure
3. modified
4. a slight gross.
Remedies of law:
Section (304-A p.p.p old) intension not to cause death. when there is no intention to cause death and no knowledge of that act is done are probability and would cause death the previous of section 304-a are alteracted14 PLR 879 Bashir. Conclusive proof of negative requested by direct evidence.in India IPC i80 section 52’80,81,88,83,90,92,304-a,337and 338 contains the law of medical malpractice in India.
