Question

Describe the elements necessary for a plaintiff to prove negligence

as well as two defenses available to a defendant.

Answer 1

Ans- The elements necessary for a plaintiff to prove negligence are given below-

• Duty- The first element is the duty. The plaintiff must be able to prove that the defendant owed a duty to plaintiff and the duty can be general duty of care or special duty. General duty is that duty to conduct oneself as a reasonable person. The defendant must act according to a reasonable person. In other words the defendant must act like a reasonable person would have acted in the similar circumstances and if the defendant's behavior is same as reasonable man's behavior then the defendant is considered to fulfill his duty of care and it it not the same or falls below what the court determines  reasonable man's actions would have been then the defendant has breached his duty. The special duty refers to the duty which is imposed by statute or case law.
• Breach- The next element is the breach. Here it is seen whether the defendant has breached his duty and a defendant will breach his duty when he fails to act in a certain manner or not acting in a situation in which he was legally required to act.
• Cause- After the duty and breach of duty by the defendant the next element is the cause which is to show that the breach of duty was the actual cause of the plaintiff's harm.
• Harm- The last element is the harm. The plaintiff must be able to show that the breach caused harm to him by the defendant.

The two defenses available to defendant are given below-

• Contributory negligence- The contributory negligence states that the plaintiff could also have avoided certain things so as to not get harm. In other words the plaintiff could also avoided injuries if they were also not negligent.
• Comparative negligence- The comparative negligence reduces the plaintiff's recovery for the damages caused by the plaintiff itself. In other words the damages might have there because of plaintiff's fault and whatever the percentage of their fault is, it is deducted from plaintiff's recovery. There are three main types of comparative negligence which are-

Pure- Here Plaintiff is awarded with the percentage of damages for which the defendant is responsible.

Modified- Plaintiff is awarded damages only when his negligence is equal to or less than defendant's negligence.

Slight gross- Here plaintiff is awarded damages only when their negligence is slight and defendant negligence is gross.