Negligent is a legal term used to describe behavior that fails to meet the level of care that a reasonable person would have exercised under the same circumstances. Either a person’s actions or omissions of actions can be found negligent. The following five elements are may prove a person’s actions were negligent:
- The existence of a legal duty that the defendant owed to the plaintiff
- Defendant’s breach of that duty
- Harm to the plaintiff
- Defendant’s actions are the proximate cause of harm to the plaintiff
- Defendant’s actions are the cause-in-fact of harm to the plaintiff
See also: Negligence
[Last updated in July of 2023 by the Wex Definitions Team]