Recently a lawsuit was filed against Lambert’s Cafe, “Home of the Throwed Rolls.” A restaurant patron claims that she, “sustained a lacerated cornea with a vitreous detachment and all head, neck, eyes and vision were severely damaged” after being hit by a roll that was thrown during a dinner visit in September of 2014.

The plaintiff is suing for $25,000 to cover her medical bills and legal fees. The lawsuit claims that the restaurant should have known about the dangers involved in their signature thrown rolls.

This raises a great question: what justifies a negligence lawsuit?

Negligence is an action that falls below the typical standards of behavior or the failure of a person to act the way a reasonable person would act under similar circumstances. All people and businesses have a duty to exercise reasonable care to ensure others physical safety.

In order to prove a negligence claim, there are a few standards that must be met. First, it must be established that the defendant had an obligation to the plaintiff. An obligation arises when a relationship between the defendant and the plaintiff is established, such as a restaurant and a patron or retail store and a shopper.

The defendant must then breach their duty to the plaintiff by failing to exercise reasonable care. This occurs when a party creates or allows a dangerous situation that is above and beyond the normal level of risk that we encounter in our daily lives. An example would be a spill in a retail store that is reported and not cleaned up for an extended period of time.

The plaintiff must prove that the defendant’s actions caused the injury. This is often times referred to as “but-for” causation and occurs when the plaintiff would not have been injured but for the defendant’s actions. When a plaintiff establishes causation, he or she must also consider proximate cause. A defendant is only responsible for any harms that he or she could have foreseen. If the plaintiff is harmed in some way, which the defendant could not have foreseen, then he or she would not be held responsible.

Finally, a plaintiff must prove that he or she experienced a legally recognized harm. This can be in the form of a physical injury to a person, emotional injury, loss of income, or destruction of property.

Even if a plaintiff is able to establish all elements of a negligence claim, it will take a skilled attorney to be able to win a lawsuit. Contact one of the skilled attorneys at Powers Taylor today for a free consultation. All of our calls are confidential.