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What is a reasonable person in legal terms?

To win a premises liability case in the state of Kentucky, you’ll have to prove that the other party showed negligence. Simply making a mistake isn’t enough; you’ll have to prove that their behavior would be unreasonable for most people. This involves using the concept of a reasonable person.

What is a reasonable person?

In a premises liability case, a reasonable person is someone who does everything right, within reason. They act in a way that most people would be expected to behave. For example, if they noticed that the sidewalk outside their store was covered in ice, a reasonable person would defrost the ice so that customers wouldn’t fall and injure themselves.

This doesn’t mean that the other party is liable in every situation. For example, if you were mugged in a parking lot, you couldn’t reasonably expect the store owner to know about the incident ahead of time. Your personal injury attorney would also have to prove that the other party owed you a duty in some way. You probably couldn’t sue strangers who walked past the incident without interfering because they don’t have a duty to keep you safe.

For adults, most judges use the same standard of a reasonable person to evaluate behavior. If a child committed the act in question, the judge might evaluate their behavior against the reasonable behavior of other people in their age group. A child might be held to adult standards if they were involved in an adult-oriented incident like driving and crashing a vehicle.

Should you pursue a personal injury case?

If you were injured in a public area, you might be able to pursue a case against another party. Depending on the situation, the property owner may have had a responsibility to keep the area safe. They might have even directly injured you with their own recklessness.

An attorney may evaluate the situation and let you know if you should pursue the case. You might be able to sue the responsible party for your damages and get the compensation you need to pay your medical bills.

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