What Are the Two Types of Negligence in Torts?

What Are the Two Types of Negligence in Torts?

Most Georgia personal injury injury cases involve the legal concept of negligence. However, there are multiple forms of negligence, the two main types being ordinary and gross negligence. While these two concepts are similar, the differences between them can have a substantial impact on a personal injury claim, including the potential compensation available to the victim.

What Is a Tort?

A tort is a wrongful act that causes harm to another party, leading to legal responsibility for the person who committed the act. The harm the victim suffers could be physical, emotional, or financial. Someone who suffers harm because of another’s actions or failure to act can file a personal injury claim against that other party to seek compensation for said harm. Torts include everything from car accidents and medical malpractice to intentional assaults and defective product claims.

Ordinary vs. Gross Negligence

While torts can be intentional or accidental, the majority of personal injury claims involve the latter, which typically involves the legal concept of negligence. Ordinary negligence happens when someone fails to take reasonable care given the circumstances, leading to an accident or injury. For example, a driver who didn’t signal a turn before changing lanes and subsequently hit an adjacent vehicle likely committed ordinary negligence. The person didn’t mean to cause harm, but their carelessness resulted in injuries to someone else nonetheless.

Gross negligence is more serious and involves a conscious disregard for the safety of others. Gross negligence goes beyond carelessness to reach the level of recklessness: knowingly putting people in severe danger. For example, a driver causing an accident while severely intoxicated could be gross negligence.

Why the Difference Between Ordinary and Gross Negligence Matters

Because gross negligence is a more elevated form of negligence than ordinary negligence, cases involving gross negligence often lead to greater compensation for victims. If someone commits gross negligence and injures someone, a judge or jury will likely take a harsher view of the liable party’s actions, leading to greater liability. In some cases, gross negligence could lead to punitive damages, a type of damages awarded to punish the wrongdoer for their behavior and deter similar behavior in the future.

The Georgia Code says that for victims of torts to recover punitive damages, they must provide “clear and convincing evidence” that the defendant’s actions demonstrate “willful misconduct, malice, fraud, wantonness, oppression, or that entire want of care which would raise the presumption of conscious indifference to consequences.” While willful misconduct, malice, fraud, and oppression involve intentional acts, wantonness and conscious indifference to consequences are closer to gross negligence. Therefore, a plaintiff seeking punitive damages for an accident would likely have to prove the defendant committed gross negligence.

Contact Our Georgia Personal Injury Attorneys Now

Whether your personal injury case involves ordinary or gross negligence, Kaufman Injury Law is ready to fight for your right to compensation. We’ll handle all the legal work for you, including conducting a thorough investigation into the at-fault party’s behavior and whether it constitutes gross negligence. Contact us at any time for a free consultation with a personal injury lawyer in Georgia. We look forward to hearing from you soon.