Ordinary Negligence And Gross Negligence: Why The Difference Matters To Your Personal Injury Case

12 August 2019 by Jonathan Phillips

Most personal injury claims — whether they involve falling down a set of stairs at a hotel or a car wreck — center around the idea that the responsible party was negligent in his or her duty to exercise a reasonable degree of care toward others. 

However, there are different types of negligence that can be involved in a case, including ordinary negligence and gross negligence. How are they different? Why do they matter? Keep reading to find out.

Ordinary Negligence

Ordinary negligence is the sort of action that most people would characterize as "foolish" or "an accidental oversight." Often, it's the sort of thing that people do (or don't do) all the time without really thinking much about the danger.

Some examples include the following:

• A driver rushes a light that's turning red to avoid stopping and ends up in an accident.
• A business owner lets ice accumulate in his or her parking lot after the snow melts and refreezes and forgets to throw down salt, causing a customer to fall.
• A hotel manager doesn't replace a piece of torn carpet in a hallway, and a guest catches the heel of her shoe in the tear and breaks her ankle.

These are the kinds of accidents where nobody meant any harm — but the guilty party still lapsed in his or her duty to others.

When you bring a case against someone who committed ordinary negligence, you have the right to ask for fair compensation for your financial losses, including your medical bills, any lost wage, any damage to your personal property, and similar expenses. You can also ask for reasonable compensation for the pain and suffering you endured.

Gross Negligence

Gross negligence is generally defined as an action that shows an extreme disregard or total indifference to the welfare and safety of others. The responsible party didn't just make a foolish choice or have a momentary lapse in judgment that led to the injured party's accident — they acted in a way that was all-but-guaranteed to cause somebody harm.

Some examples of gross negligence include things like the following: 

• A driver decides to "open up the engine" of his or her Ferrari on the highway to see just how fast it can go, ignoring the speed limit and weaving rapidly around the traffic that's already on the road.
• A nursing home fails to report that a patient has obvious bedsores because they don't want to be cited by the state for neglect.
• A hotel owner knows there's been a rash of brutal assaults on guests in the last month but takes no action to warn anyone and hires no security.

In cases like these, when you file an injury lawsuit, you can ask for all the normal damages plus punitive damages. Punitive damages are not directly tied to your economic losses. They are intended solely to punish the responsible party for their gross negligence and serve as a warning to others — and can substantially increase the amount of your settlement.

Talk to a personal injury lawyer today about your situation to determine if ordinary or gross negligence applies.

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