Foreseeable Consequences

One of the most important factors when proving a negligence case is foreseeability; that is, if the consequences of acting (or failing to act) are reasonably likely to occur. If you are injured, and that injury is someone else’s fault, you do not automatically have a valid negligence claim. This is to protect people from being assigned fault due to “freak accidents”.

For example, if someone sits on a chair, that chair breaks, and the shards of wood from the chair fly through the air and hit you in the head, causing injury, that person is technically directly responsible for your injury. However, the accident that occurred was not foreseeable: it is not reasonably likely that a perfectly good chair would break and strike another person, causing them injury. Because of this, any negligence claim against that person would be likely to fail.

However, if rather than sitting in the chair, that person takes a running start and leaps headlong into the chair, causing it to break, the situation changes considerably. It is reasonably likely that, if you leap directly into a chair, it will break, potentially exposing others around you to injury. Thus, if this occurred and you were injured as a result, you would more likely to have a successful negligence claim.

In many cases, the cause of your injury may be readily apparent. It is important to consider the element of foreseeability and determine whether or not that was present. Without it, it is difficult to successfully prove a claim of negligence.

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To learn more about building a strong civil case, contact the Chicago personal injury lawyers of Friedman & Bonebrake, P.C. at 312-466-8200