Negligence
A failure to exercise the care that a reasonably prudent person would use, resulting in harm to another person.
Negligence is the legal theory underlying most personal injury claims. To establish negligence, a plaintiff must prove four elements: duty (the defendant owed a legal duty of care), breach (the defendant failed to meet that standard of care), causation (the breach caused the injury), and damages (the plaintiff suffered actual harm).
The standard of care is objective: what would a "reasonably prudent person" have done in the same circumstances? A driver who runs a red light, a property owner who fails to repair a known hazard, a doctor who deviates from accepted medical practice—each may be found negligent if their failure meets the four-element test.
Contributory and comparative negligence are defenses: in pure comparative fault states, damages are reduced by the plaintiff's percentage of fault. In contributory negligence states, any fault by the plaintiff can bar recovery entirely.
Real-World Example
The grocery store was found negligent for failing to put up a wet floor sign after a spill, and the customer who slipped and fractured her wrist was awarded $45,000 in damages.