What Is Negligence? Duty, Breach, Causation & Damage
Negligence is when someone fails to take reasonable care and causes real harm to someone else. A successful negligence claim requires all four elements: duty of care, breach, causation and damage.
Key takeaways
- Duty of care: the person owed you reasonable care.
- Breach: they failed to act as a careful person would.
- Causation: that failure actually caused the harm.
- Damage: there was a real loss, such as injury, damaged property or money lost.
What this video covers
This short video explains negligence through a lawyer slipping on his own wet floor. It begins by defining negligence as a failure to take reasonable care that causes real harm to someone else, then walks through the four elements needed to win a negligence claim. At 0:10, it introduces duty of care: the person owed you reasonable care. A shop owner keeping the floor safe is the example given. At 0:20, the video covers breach of duty. This means failing to act as a careful person would, illustrated by a wet floor with no warning sign. At 0:30, it explains causation: the failure to take care must actually have caused the harm. At 0:40, it turns to damage. There must be a real loss, such as an injury, damaged property or money lost. The recap at 0:50 brings the four elements together. All four are required; if one is missing, there is no negligence case. The video provides general information about common-law concepts, not legal advice. Laws vary by country, so it advises speaking to a qualified lawyer about a specific situation.
