A breach of duty is a failure to use the level of care a reasonably careful person would use in the same situation. It is one part of a negligence claim, which is a legal claim that someone’s carelessness caused harm to another person.
A breach does not require bad intent. A rushed decision or a skipped safety step can be enough.
Duty and Breach Are Two Separate Ideas
Duty is the standard of care the law expects. Breach is falling short of it. California sets the baseline duty in Section 1714(a) of the California Civil Code, which makes everyone responsible for an injury caused by a lack of “ordinary care or skill” in managing their property or their own conduct.
That baseline applies in nearly every part of daily life, and what ordinary care looks like depends on the setting.
How Is a Breach of Duty Proven?
A breach is shown by comparing what a person actually did with what a reasonably careful person would have done in the same situation. California’s official civil jury instructions describe negligence as doing something a reasonably careful person would not do, or failing to do something a reasonably careful person would do.
A breach can be something a person did, such as speeding, or something they failed to do, such as warning visitors about a hazard they knew about. The facts decide where the line falls. Evidence such as photos, records, witness accounts, and expert testimony helps show what the person did and what a careful person would have done instead.
What Are Common Examples of a Breach of Duty?
A breach can happen almost anywhere a person or business owes others ordinary care. Common examples include:
- Running a red light: A driver who ignores a signal falls short of the care expected behind the wheel, and that failure can become the breach in a car accident claim.
- Driving while distracted: A driver who is texting or looking away from the road can miss hazards a careful driver would catch.
- Ignoring a known hazard on property: A property owner who knows about a broken step and leaves it in place can breach the duty owed to people on the property, which is the kind of breach a premises liability claim is built on.
- Leaving a spill unattended: A store that knows about a wet floor and neither cleans it up nor warns shoppers falls short of ordinary care, a common basis for a slip and fall claim.
- Skipping vehicle maintenance: A trucking company that sends out a truck with worn brakes puts other drivers at risk, which can support a truck accident claim.
- Falling below professional standards: A professional who departs from the accepted practices of their field, whether in medicine, construction, or another line of work, can breach the duty as well.
In each example, the question is the same: what would a reasonably careful person have done in that position?
Can Breaking a Safety Law Show a Breach of Duty?
Sometimes. Under Section 669 of the California Evidence Code, a person is presumed to have failed to use due care, meaning ordinary care, when all four of these are shown:
- They violated a statute, ordinance, or government regulation
- The violation caused the death or injury
- The injury came from the kind of event the law was meant to prevent
- The injured person was one of the people the law was meant to protect
Lawyers call this negligence per se. Because it is a presumption, the other side can try to rebut it by showing the person did what a reasonably careful person would have done while trying to follow the law.
What Are the Four Elements of a Negligence Claim?
A breach of duty is one of four elements a negligence claim generally needs:
- Duty: A legal obligation to use ordinary care.
- Breach: Falling short of that obligation.
- Causation: A link between the breach and the harm. The jury instructions ask whether the conduct was a substantial factor in causing the harm, meaning more than a remote or trivial factor.
- Harm: Actual injury or loss the person suffered.
Proving a breach alone does not complete the claim. A careless act that caused no real harm falls short, and so does an injury that came from something other than the careless act. These same elements are the foundation of a personal injury claim based on negligence.
What If the Injured Person Was Also Careless?
Their damages are reduced, but the claim does not go away. California’s ordinary-care statute limits responsibility when the injured person’s own lack of care helped bring about the injury, and the jury instructions apply this through comparative fault: each side is assigned a percentage of responsibility, and the injured person’s damages are reduced by their own share. For example, if a jury finds the injured person 20% responsible, their damages are reduced by 20%, and they can still recover the rest.
Talk to a San Diego Attorney About a Breach of Duty
Working out whether someone’s carelessness caused your injury can feel overwhelming, especially while you are still recovering. Kevin Lemieux and our team at The Law Office of Kevin Lemieux, APC in San Diego can review the facts and how the duty of ordinary care applies to them. To find out whether a breach of duty played a role in your injury, call (619) 488-6767 or contact us today to schedule a free consultation.
A breach of duty is a failure to use the level of care a reasonably careful person would use in the same situation. It is one part of a negligence claim, which is a legal claim that someone’s carelessness caused harm to another person.
Duty is the standard of care the law expects. Breach is falling short of it. California sets the baseline duty in
