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Negligence: An Example |
| Smith is driving on a busy city street with many pedestrians on the sidewalk. Smith drives on to sidewalk, hits Sally, a pedestrian, breaking her arm and bruising her badly. Smith was not looking at the road and was not paying any attention to his driving; instead, for the five minutes prior to hitting Sally, he had been looking at his cell phone as he tried to type out a text message. Is a court likely to order Smith to compensate Sally for her injuries? |
| The answer is, yes. The court will most likely hold that Smith was negligent and will, as a result, order him to compensate Sally. |
| Sally must show five things to show that Smith is liable in negligence for her injuries: duty; breach of duty; causation; proximate cause, and injury. |