What is negligence?
Negligence is a failure to use the care a reasonably careful person would use in the same situation, such as a driver checking a phone instead of the road. In an injury claim, it is the usual reason the other side has to pay: carelessness that caused your injury and losses.
Last checked November 9, 2026 · Official sources (5)
What does negligence look like in a real claim? An example
Example: you are stopped at a red light. The driver behind you is reading a text and rolls into your bumper at 15 miles an hour. Your neck hurts, you see a doctor and a physical therapist, and you miss a week of work. Your bills come to $6,000 and the lost pay to $2,000.
| Element | In this crash |
|---|---|
| Duty | Every driver has to drive with reasonable care toward others on the road. |
| Breach | Reading a text instead of watching traffic. |
| Causation | The bump caused the neck injury that sent you to the doctor. |
| Damages | $8,000 in bills and lost pay, plus pain and disruption. |
Take away any one of the four and the claim weakens. If the same driver tapped your car and you were not hurt at all, there may be a dent to fix but no injury claim. Courts list the same four parts: duty, breach, causation and damages.
Why does negligence matter if you were hurt?
Negligence is a kind of tort, which the federal courts describe as a civil wrong the victim may sue over. In most crashes and falls, the other side's insurer pays only after it accepts that its customer was careless. That is why adjusters ask what you saw, what the other person did, and what the police wrote.
It also explains what evidence helps: photos, video, witness names, the police report and your medical records. Each one proves a different element. Photos and witnesses show the breach. Medical records tie the injury to the crash.
Does negligence work the same in Arizona and Texas?
The basic idea is the same. What changes is what happens when both sides were careless.
| State | If you were partly negligent too |
|---|---|
| Arizona | Your claim is not barred. Damages are cut by your share of fault. |
| Texas | You cannot recover if your share is greater than 50%. |
Negligence vs. gross negligence vs. an accident
Negligence is ordinary carelessness. Gross negligence is a far more extreme kind, where someone knows about a serious danger and goes ahead anyway; it can open the door to extra damages in some states. An "accident" is just the event. Calling a crash an accident does not decide whether anyone was negligent.
Questions
Does the other person have to mean to hurt me?
No. Negligence is about carelessness, not intent. A failure to use ordinary care is enough.
Who decides if someone was negligent?
At first, the insurance adjuster forms an opinion. If the claim goes to court, a judge or jury decides.
Can I still claim if I was a little careless too?
Often, yes. In Arizona your damages are reduced by your share. In Texas, being more than 50% responsible bars recovery.
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See if I’m owed moneySources (5)
- Utah State Courts, Glossary of Legal Terms, checked 2026-11-09. “Failure to exercise the care that an ordinarily prudent person would exercise in the same circumstances.”
- JLB Builders, L.L.C. v. Hernandez (Tex. 2021), checked 2026-11-09. “The elements of negligence are duty, breach, causation, and damages.”
- Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 33.001, checked 2026-11-09. “In an action to which this chapter applies, a claimant may not recover damages if his percentage of responsibility is greater than 50 percent.”
- U.S. Courts, Glossary of Legal Terms, checked 2026-11-09. “A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person. The “victim” of a tort may be entitled to sue for the harm suffered.”
- A.R.S. § 12-2505, checked 2026-11-09. “If the jury applies either defense, the claimant's action is not barred, but the full damages shall be reduced in proportion to the relative degree of the claimant's fault which is a proximate cause of the injury or death, if any.”