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(314) 500-HURTBreach of duty occurs when an individual’s conduct fails to meet an applicable standard of care. This standard of care usually revolves around the concept of the reasonable person standard – whether someone acted with care as the average person would have in those circumstances.
Simply put, breach of duty means that somebody had a duty to act in a certain way, but failed to do so. For example, when a driver gets behind the wheel of a vehicle, they have a duty to follow all rules of the road. Speeding through a red light and causing a car accident, as an example, is a breach of duty because the driver has a duty of care to maintain the legal speed limit and obey traffic signals so as to drive safely and not injure anyone. Therefore, breach of duty is paramount in establishing negligence. After sustaining an injury, the first step is determining whether a duty existed between the parties. To prove negligence, you must provide evidence that:
It can often be relatively easy to prove breach of duty due to doctrine called res ipsa loquitur. Literally translated as “the thing speaks for itself,” this doctrine applies to situations where the only explanation for something happening is that some duty was breached.
As an example, say you paid to have some expensive wine stored in a specialty storage facility that guaranteed it had generators, and that the ideal conditions and temperatures would be maintained. You went to get a bottle and found that it had been ruined due to extreme heat and many of your other bottles had exploded. You may not be able to prove precisely what happened. Perhaps the company did not maintain their generators or maybe they set the controls to the wrong temperature or maybe they used a flamethrower on your wine. Who knows? Regardless of what really happened, they had a duty to keep your wine safe and the condition of your wine speaks for itself – res ipsa loquitur.
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This law firm is absolutely amazing. They took on my case, when nobody else would! They fought hard for me when it seemed there was no hope. They kept me informed and always asked for my input before making decisions on my case. Gary puts himself into every case unlike most law firm owners. Gary and his team really care about every one of their clients, and fights hard to get you a fair settlement. They actually won my case out of court, and then reduced my fees to make sure I could get my car fixed and be able to get back to some normality. I would recommend Burger Law over and above any other firm! If you go somewhere else you aren’t getting the best!
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521 W. Main Street Suite 201 O
Belleville, IL 62220
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(618) 500-4878 GET DIRECTIONS332 S Michigan Ave Suite 900
Chicago, IL 60604
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(312) 500-HURT GET DIRECTIONS100 Chesterfield Business Pkwy Suites 200-222
Chesterfield, MO 63005
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