Andrew Barovick

When someone suffers an injury due to the negligence of a person or other entity (i.e., a corporation), that injured person may well be entitled to monetary compensation. In essence, negligence is a failure to use appropriate care under all the circumstances.

In order to make out a negligence case, the victim must also be able to prove that the negligent person had notice of the negligent condition, and failed to correct it.

For example, a tenant in an apartment building tells the superintendent and/or the owner of the building that the elevator door has been opening when the elevator cab itself is not there, so that someone could fall into the elevator shaft. Nothing is done about it, and the next week, a tenant on the third floor opens the elevator door, walks forward thinking that the cab of the elevator is where it is supposed to be, and falls three stories into the basement, badly fracturing both of his legs.

That tenant is entitled to sue the building’s owner based on a negligence theory, since the building failed to fix the problem with the elevator, despite having been told about it.