What Is a Breach of Duty?

A breach of duty occurs when a person or business fails to exercise the level of care the law expects, and that failure directly causes another person’s injury.

Breach is the second element of a negligence claim, and it is often where a personal injury case is won or lost.

Proving it means showing what a reasonable person would have done in the same situation, then showing that the defendant did not.

What Are the Core Elements of Negligence?

A negligence claim, which is common in personal injury cases, depends on four elements, and missing any one of them ends the case before it starts. You must prove:

• Duty of care owed by the defendant
• Breach of that duty
• Causation between the breach and the injury
• Actual damages resulting from the injury

Breach sits between duty and causation, and it usually gets the most attention at trial. Duty is a legal question decided by a judge. In contrast, breach is a fact question for the jury, which is why the evidence of behavior matters so much.

What Are the Standards of Care in a Personal Injury Claim?

The standard of care sets the yardstick a jury uses to measure the defendant’s behavior. For most everyday activities, the standard is what a reasonable and prudent person would have done under the same conditions.

That baseline shifts up or down depending on who the defendant is and what they were doing:

• Medical professionals judged against peers in the same field
• Commercial drivers held to Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations
• Property owners measured against a reasonable inspection and warning duty
• Common carriers like taxis, buses, and rideshare drivers held to a heightened duty of care
• Child defendants measured against what a reasonably careful child of similar age would have done

Florida drivers are subject to a statutory standard of care. Under Florida Statutes § 316.1925, every driver on a Florida road must operate a vehicle carefully and prudently, taking account of road conditions, traffic, curves, and other circumstances, so as not to endanger the life, limb, or property of any person.

What Is Negligence Per Se?

Some cases establish breach through a violation of a safety law designed to protect people from the type of harm that occurred. This concept, known as negligence per se, can allow the statutory violation to establish the breach element without separately proving what a reasonably careful person would have done.

Common examples that trigger a negligence per se argument include:

• Running a red light or stop sign
• Driving above the posted speed limit
• Texting or otherwise using a phone in violation of a distracted driving law
• Failing to maintain required commercial vehicle inspections
• Serving alcohol to a visibly intoxicated minor

Negligence per se does not automatically win the case. The claimant still must prove that the violation caused the injury and that the injury was the type the statute was designed to prevent.

How Is Breach of Duty Proven at Trial?

Breach is rarely obvious on its own, so it has to be built out of evidence that shows what happened and why it fell short of the standard of care. The most persuasive breach cases usually draw on more than one type of proof:

• Eyewitness testimony describing what the defendant did or failed to do
• Photos, video, or dashcam footage capturing the moment of the incident
• Expert testimony explaining what a reasonable person in that role would have done differently
• Industry standards, safety codes, or internal policies the defendant did not follow
• Prior complaints, citations, or violations showing a pattern rather than a one-time lapse
• Physical evidence, such as skid marks, damaged equipment, or maintenance records

A single piece of evidence rarely wins a breach argument by itself. Jurors tend to respond to a pattern: several independent sources pointing to the same failure make it much harder for a defendant to argue the incident was simply unavoidable.

Ask Our Team About Your Breach of Duty Case

Every negligence case comes down to a story about what someone should have done but did not.

Our team has spent more than five decades pulling apart those stories, matching them to the applicable standards of care, and putting the right evidence in front of insurance carriers and juries. Insurance companies know we are prepared to take a case all the way to trial, and that willingness gives us leverage at the negotiating table.

Cases like these do not wait forever, and Florida’s calendar rules can close the door on a valid claim before the medical picture is finished forming. For a free case evaluation with Smith, Feddeler & Smith, P.A., call (863) 688-7766 or contact our firm online today.

Office Location

Lakeland832 Florida Avenue South
Lakeland, FL 33801

(863) 312-1102

Brandon202 E Brandon Blvd. Suite 107
Brandon, FL 33511

(813) 527-3716

Kissimmee1101 Miranda Lane
Ste1331, Kissimmee, FL 34741

(407) 904-5445

Tampa100 S Ashley Drive
Suite 600, Tampa, FL 33602

(813) 859-5671

Orlando4700 Millenia Blvd
Orlando,FL 32839

(407) 553-3028

Clearwater13575 58th St North #200
Clearwater, FL 33760

(727) 914-5089

$1,200,000.00
Workers’ Compensation

Claimant worked as a tree guy and a giant limb fell on him. Claimant developed CRPS and ended up wheelchair bound. Our firm was successful in obtaining many benefits to the Claimant prior to settlement, including multiple home modifications, wheelchair ramps, authorization of medical specialist, and implantation of a spinal cord stimulator.

$350,000.00
Workers’ Compensation

Claimant worked as a bus driving and during an evacuation she jumped off the bus causing her to fall resulting in a serious back injury.

$269,671.00
Workers’ Compensation

Claimant worked performing clerical type job in an office. She was asked to carry a box down stairs when she slipped and fell down the flight of stairs injuring her head, neck and lefts arm / wrist / hand.

$220,100.00
Workers’ Compensation

Claimant worked for a temp service. He was helping to unload a trailer when his foot went through a board on the floor of the trailer causing his to fall, shattering his pelvis, and causing serious injury to his back, hip and head.

$1,223,423.00
Workers’ Compensation

Claimant worked as a selector / forklift driver. This case involved a specific injury to her right leg / knee. She continued to work which resulted in repetitive and cumulative trauma to the right knee and CRPS.

$630,000.00
Workers’ Compensation

Claimant worked for a transport company. One day he was forced to get under a trailer and while he was lifting and twisting, the Claimant injured his back and knee, which was left untreated until he retained representation and filed Petitions for Benefits. Unfortunately, the severity or the injury coupled with the delay in treatment caused the Claimant to developed CRPS.