How is Standard of Care Used in Personal Injury Law?
Most personal injury cases include plaintiffs proving negligence of the defendants in some form, and in order to prove negligence, plaintiffs must establish a standard or duty of care, a breach of that duty, the causal relationship between the breach of duty and the injury, and finally the existence of damages from that injury.
Famous Cases Standard of Care Was Used
Liebeck v. McDonald’s (1992)
After Stella Liebeck suffered third degree burns from a McDonald’s coffee spill, she sued for medical bills totally around $20,000. McDonald’s argued that the coffee temperature was within safe range, but an investigation proved that there were 700 complaints about that McDonald’s coffee’s temperature before Liebeck was injured so severely. Liebeck’s medical team’s argument was that the McDonald’s in question had the standard or duty of care to lower the temperature of that coffee well before the injury, and they neglected to rectify the matter, leading to Liebeck suffering.
Kawalski v. Johns Hopkins Hospital (2023) –Case is currently in appeals—
Maya Kowalski was diagnosed with Complex Regional Pain Disorder (a rare disorder that causes debilitating pain for the patient); however, in October of 2016, during a hospital visit, doctors at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital questioned the diagnosis, and accused Maya’s mother, Beata, of medical abuse. After reporting their concerns to the Florida Department of Children and Families, Maya was taken from her mother, and her mother was under a DCF investigation. This led to mental strain for Beata, who ultimately ended up committing suicide, having been without her daughter for over three months and under the pressure of a child abuse investigation. The Kowalski family argued that doctors breached their duty and standard of care when they dismissed Maya’s diagnosis and assumed abuse. The family then proved a direct correlation to the breach in care leading to the mental trauma of a young girl and the death of her mother by her own hand. In 2023, Maya (17 years old at the time) and the Kowalski family were awarded $261 million, plus $50 million in punitive damages for the case (a judge later reduced the amount by 20%). Johns Hopkins is currently appealing the case.
When is Standard of Care Used in the Legal Process?
Standard of care is used to help prove negligence, so it is used throughout the legal process for personal injury claims. In most cases, if all four steps of proving negligence cannot be identified, a personal injury claim will most likely fail. The first step to proving negligence is proving the standard of care. Identifying how a reasonable person in the same situation should react can help show how a defending party breached that standard or duty, leading to injury.
You may see the standard of care mentioned in demand letters or spoken about during negotiations or at trial.
Is Standard of Care used in Kentucky Personal Injury Law?
Yes! As with most negligence claims, plaintiffs of personal injury cases must establish the standard of care in Kentucky by showing how a reasonably prudent person would react or act under the same circumstances.
Is Standard of Care used in Tennessee Personal Injury Law?
Yes! When claiming negligence that led to a personal injury, plaintiffs must establish a standard of care in Tennessee that shows defendants didn’t act or react reasonably in the given situation.
How Does Hughes & Coleman Injury Lawyers Use Standard of Care?
When you become a client at Hughes & Coleman, we review all aspects of your case, conduct investigations, and review medical and legal documents to see help define a standard of care in your situation. Once it is defined, we work to prove that there was a breach in that standard to help prove negligence in your case.
