In order to file a successful personal injury claim, you are required to demonstrate that the other party was in one way or another negligent when it comes to their actions and that said negligence preceded a duty of care and its consequent breach. It is no enough to be injured – these conditions must be present in order to have a valid case and this is one of the reasons why these claims must always be handled by an experienced injury attorney with our law firm. In addition to proving negligence, evidence is a cornerstone of all successful personal injury lawsuits given the fact that it will paint a story of how the defendant’s negligence led to your accident and consequent injuries.

That said, life is never straightforward, and sometimes, the evidence may get lost or consumed in a fire, or the accident scene may be quickly cleaned up such as in the case of a slip and fall event at a store, leaving you and your legal team grasping for straws. This is when the Latin legal doctrine of “Res Ipsa Loquitur” applies which aims to provide the plaintiff or injured party with leeway when it comes to explaining away their injuries despite the availability of direct evidence or the presence of very unusual circumstances such as being hit by a falling object in a busy construction site.

This is a Latin term translated as “the thing speaks for itself” and in this article, we shall demonstrate how it can be invoked even when there is no compelling evidence of negligence, all for the purposes of ensuring that you receive the compensation you are rightfully owed after getting injured – read on to find out more.

Are you looking for the best personal injury attorney? Please call us NOW at (314) 481-63338 to learn more about your legal options for justice and compensation. The experienced injury lawyers at McCready Law bring to the table over 90 YEARS of combined legal experience where we’ve handled tens of thousands of different claims from all imaginable specialties, and helped an equal number of injured Americans across the country and from all walks of life.

McCready Law best countrywide personal injury lawyers are committed to getting you the compensation you deserve, and our commitment is demonstrated by a number of factors: all claims are handled by Bonafide and experienced, tenured attorneys and not legal assistants as is often seen in most law firms. In addition, we ensure to work closely with a group of highly sought-after experts to ensure that we leave no stone unturned when it comes to building a strong case on your behalf, and doing this ensures that we are able to demonstrate negligence or liability, as well as clear causation while taking into account the available evidence.

In addition, we are not afraid to litigate should we have reason to believe that your injuries and the conduct of the defendant were life-altering and egregious respectively, as more often than not, taking a case to trial usually ends in recovering the maximum allowable compensation by law.

We run a bilingual firm (hablamos Español), we have nationwide reach thanks to our trusted network of referral attorneys and law firms and, we take on all cases on contingency fee basis, and what this means is that there are ZERO UPFRONT FEES for the duration of the processing of your claim, as we only levy our fees at the end of the suit, and only if we’ve recovered compensation on your behalf. If you or a loved one were injured due to the negligent actions of another individual or large corporation, please give us a call NOW at (314) 481-63338 to learn more about your legal options for justice and compensation – our intake team is standing by.

Conditions that Precede a Viable Injury Claim

In order to have a viable personal injury claim, the following elements must be present:

1. The defendant owed you a legal duty to keep you and other individuals safe by acting in a manner that is deemed prudent and reasonable to prevent injury
2. The defendant breached this duty of care by acting in a negligent manner
3. Their breach of said duty of care was the direct cause of your injuries
4. You suffered actual, compensable damages as a result

In most personal injury cases, it is challenging to provide sufficient evidence that demonstrates either causation or breach of duty. This is because you may need to call forth accident reconstruction experts, provide eyewitness testimony, documentation, and physical evidence.

How “Res Ipsa Loquitur” Can Help You Prove Negligence

“Res Ipsa Loquitor” is an evidentiary doctrine that allows for your legal team to infer negligence even in the absence of direct evidence of the defendant’s negligence. Translated into – “the thing speaks for itself”, it essentially creates a presumption of negligence against the defendant, arguing that were it not for the actions of the defendant, the accident patently wouldn’t have occurred and that the defendant was in control of the circumstances leading up to your injury.

In order for a court to allow you to invoke “Res Ipsa Loquitur”, the following conditions must exist:

1. The event must be unique in that it usually does not occur in the absence of negligence – This means that in the normal course of events, the accident must be something doesn’t happen unless someone was negligent.
2. The injury must be caused by an agency within the exclusive control of the defendant, meaning that the defendant or their agents or employees must have had control over the thing or situation that caused your injury at both the time of the negligence and the injury. Examples include the surgeon who caused your internal injuries or complications or the railway had exclusive control over the train that derailed which led to your accident and so on.
3. The injury must not have been due to any voluntary action or contribution on the claimant’s part whereby you must not have contributed to your own injury due to your own negligence or voluntary action. However, this doesn’t mean that the clamant has to be 100% FREE of fault but your actions should not be the primary cause of the specific accident.

“Res Ipsa Loquitur” has its roots in 1863 in the Byrne v. Boadle case where a barrel of flour fell from a window and stuck a pedestrian who happened to be passing by. The court opined that the act of the barrel falling implied negligence as barrels usually don’t fall from windows without someone’s negligence.

This doctrine is usually invoked in injury cases that involve:

1. Medical malpractice where surgical tools are left inside a body or where the patient suffers injuries to a perfectly healthy part or organ during surgery unrelated to the surgical site such as nerve damage
2. Aviation accidents such as plane crashes where external factors such as weather or sabotage are ruled out, leaving the strong possibility that pilot or mechanical error was the proximate cause of the accident
3. Elevator accidents where the carriage drops suddenly or stops or generally malfunctions – it can be reasonably inferred that the company contracted to maintain it was negligent in some form or fashion.

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It is important to note that “Res Ipsa Loquitur” isn’t a presumption of guilt, but it infers the same and that the defendant can offer up a rebuttal presumption depending on the jurisdiction. Ultimately, the judge or jury will decide if the defendant’s explanation is sufficient to overcome your inference of negligence based off the evidence at hand.

At McCready Law, we rise up to the challenges presented by such cases, and through various legal tools, establish that the other party had exclusive control of the circumstances leading up to the accident and we empower you to “let the thing speak for itself” for the purposes of netting you maximum compensation. Please call us NOW at (314) 481-63338 nationwide if you were injured and there was no observable evidence at the time of your accident and let us do the heavy lifting on your behalf. Remember, the call is 100% FREE, and there is no legal obligation. Thanks for choosing McCready Law, and we look forward to serving you.