About "negligence"

What is a negligent act and what should you do if you have been the victim of such an act?

Accident law can be very tricky.

Sometimes and accident is literally just an accident. Something that could not have been foreseen or avoided and something that because of its random nature - no one can be blamed for.

On other occasions though an "accident" might well have been the result of another persons actions. If the act / event was in anyway foreseeable or avoidable then this would be looked upon very differently from a legal perspective if others were affected by the act / event.

So what is negligence?

The concept of negligence dates back to the 1930's when the Courts first decided on the criteria for determining under what circumstances a person might have committed a negligent act.

The celebrated case of Donoghue v Stevenson outlined that:

"you must take care to avoid acts or omissions which you can reasonably foresee would be likely to injure your neighbour"

In this context "neighbour" was deemed to mean anyone so closely affected by the act that the impact upon them would have been forseeable

Anyone who has been the victim of a negligent act may be able to make a compensation claim and should seek advice from a solicitor about their case. There are a few interesting discussion points below on the subject of claims: