You were there, you saw it happen, and you know the other party is to blame for your injury. But it’s going to take more than that to get you restitution for what you lost because of them. Specifically, you need to show a link between what they did and what happened to you, otherwise known as causation. In this post, you’ll learn about causation as it applies to personal injury. 

What Is Causation in Personal Injury Law?

“To get damages, you must show a direct connection between what the defendant did and your injury,” says personal injury attorney David Boehrer of DBLF Injury Lawyers. For example, if you slipped on a wet floor at the grocery store, the law requires you to show how the staff’s actions caused your injury. This is what’s called causation and it has two parts.

Cause In Fact

Ask yourself this: if the other person hadn’t done what they did, would the injury still have happened? This is a cause in fact, and it simply means the accident wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for the defendant’s actions. Say, for example, you were T-boned by another driver at the intersection because they failed to stop at the red light. In that case, the crash wouldn’t have happened if they had just stopped at the red light as they were supposed to. If they had done that, you wouldn’t have gotten hurt, gone to the hospital, missed work, or suffered emotional and physical injury as a result.

Proximate Cause

Proximate cause is the second part of causation in personal injury. It means the harm that resulted from the defendant’s actions was foreseeable. The law only holds us accountable for outcomes that a reasonable person would have anticipated. Say a driver runs a red light, hits another car, and that car hits a pedestrian on the sidewalk. In that case, the first driver will likely be liable because the outcome (pedestrian injury) is a foreseeable outcome of a clearly negligent action (running a red light).

How Do You Prove Causation?

Now that you know what causation is and how it applies to your case, how do you prove it? It’s all about evidence. Work with your lawyer to gather evidence like accident reports, witness testimony, expert witness testimony, medical records, and personal statements to create a factual and logical timeline of events that shows a connection between the defendant’s actions and your injuries.

Why Work With a Personal Injury Attorney?

Personal injury law is complicated and can be hard to understand, especially if you’re not familiar with the Nevada civil justice system. For example, the statute of limitations for personal injury in Nevada is two years from the date of your injury. But there are exceptions, like when you discover the injury after the deadline has passed, i.e., the discovery rule. There’s also the modified comparative negligence rule, meaning you can sue even if you’re partially to blame, so long as your share of fault doesn’t exceed 50%.

A lawyer with experience can decipher the complicated laws and tell you what applies to your case. They’ll break down the legal mumbo jumbo so you understand your rights. Also, when dealing with insurance companies, you want your lawyer in the room with you. Adjusters will use various tactics to undermine your claim, but your lawyer can protect you by negotiating with them on your behalf.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, causation means you must prove the defendant’s actions caused your injury. It has two parts: the cause in fact and the proximate cause. Work with a Nevada personal injury attorney to gather and use evidence to support your claim.