Res Ipsa Loquitur: Your Injury Speaks For Itself

Res ipsa loquitur is a Latin phrase that translates to “the thing itself speaks”. For purposes of U.S. personal injury cases, however, this literal interpretation has been slightly modified to “the thing speaks for itself.”

The thing in question is the accident and its cause. Generally, when you see someone you believe negligently caused your injuries, you must prove the following five things:

1. That the defendant owed you a duty of care
2. That he or she negligently breached that duty
3. That you suffered an injury because of that breach
4. That the breach was the main or only cause of your injury, usually phrased as the proximate cause thereof
5. That your injury resulted in your compensable economic and non-economic damages that the defendant should pay

Res ipsa loquitur speaks to both breach and causation. Instead of having to prove a specific breach, specific cause, and specific negligence, the very fact that the accident occurred and the defendant had control over whether it not it could happen speaks for itself. In other words, res ipsa allows you to use circumstantial evidence, rather than direct evidence, to prove your case.

It’s often called the common sense or common knowledge approach. Res ipsa allows the jury to make a reasonable inference of negligence based on the circumstances of your case. They do this by determining that nothing other than the defendant’s negligence could have caused your accident and therefore your injuries.

Res Ipsa Loquitur Examples

Examples of res ipsa accidents include the following:

• Two airplanes, railway trains or subway trains collide
• Your surgeon leaves a sponge or clamp inside your body
• Your tire explodes while you’re driving down the street
• The elevator in which you’re riding suddenly drops down several floors before coming to an abrupt and jarring stop
• Your airbag explodes during a crash
• A flower pot or some other object falls on you from an upper ledge while you’re walking down the sidewalk in front of a multi-story building
• The scaffolding on which you’re working gives way, plunging you to the ground
• The weed killer you use on your lawn gives you cancer
• A medical device implanted in your body malfunctions and nearly kills you before it can be removed
• Your neighbor’s dog appears out of nowhere and attacks you as you’re walking down the sidewalk
• The water heater your contractor installed sufficiently leaks and floods your house one day while you’re at work 
• An Amtrak train jumps the tracks, injuring its passengers
• A large, heavy container of waterfalls off the back of the truck in front of you, hitting your car and causing you to lose control of it and thereby suffering injuries

Circumstantial Evidence

Circumstantial evidence allows a judge or jury to reasonably infer the truth of an allegation based on indirect clues. In a personal injury case, you might lack direct proof to conclusively support your claim. Take a surgical malpractice case, for example: if you were under anesthesia and unconscious when a clamp or sponge was left in your body, you wouldn’t know exactly who was responsible. But the X-ray showing that foreign object is clear evidence of negligence—someone in that operating room made a mistake that caused you harm.

Res Ipsa Loquitur Elements

The precise things you must prove in a res ipsa case vary from state to state. However, in general, you must prove the following:

• The type of accident that caused your injury was unusual and doesn’t normally happen but for someone’s negligence
• Your evidence shows that neither you nor anyone other than the defendant caused the accident.
• The type of negligence involved breached the duty of care that the plaintiff owed you.

As in any personal injury lawsuit, your burden of proof in a res ipsa case is that of a preponderance of the evidence. In other words, your evidence must establish that it’s more likely than not that the defendant’s negligence caused your accident and resulting injuries.

Rebuttable Presumption

Keep in mind that just because you establish res ipsa loquitur doesn’t mean that you automatically win your personal injury case. Res ipsa is known as a rebuttable presumption, meaning that once you establish it, the burden shifts to the defendant to show that the presumption fails to apply in this particular case.

In other words, there are defenses to res ipsa, including the following:

• The defendant didn’t really owe you a duty of care.
• He or she did not have exclusive control over what happened.
• Your own negligence was instrumental in causing your injuries.

Regardless of how a defendant seeks to rebut the res ipsa case you established, his or her burden of proof is the same as yours; i.e., a preponderance of the evidence. Consequently, if the defendant seeks to attack the presumption on sole responsibility grounds, he or she may attempt to present evidence that puts enough doubt in the minds of the jurors that they conclude that some action or lack of action on your part was at least 51% responsible for your injuries.

Why You Need an Experienced Local Personal Injury Lawyer

Res ipsa loquitur requirements vary by state, so even if you believe the facts around your injury make it obvious that someone else’s actions—or lack of action—caused your harm, it’s still essential to consult with an experienced local personal injury lawyer. They can evaluate your case and determine if res ipsa applies or suggest an alternative approach to pursue your claim. Additionally, your attorney may identify other potential defendants beyond the person you initially thought was responsible.

Work With an Experienced Local Lawyer

Submit a request online today or call us at (866) 345-6784 to get in touch with an experienced personal injury lawyer in your area.

About the Author

Aaron is a professional legal writer with a B.S. in English Education from Southern Illinois University – Carbondale. He has written, published, and edited thousands of legal articles for RequestLegalHelp, which has connected over 5 million people to legal help in the United States.

With over five years of experience writing thousands of legal articles for law firms across the U.S. and Canada, Aaron specializes in covering federal, state, and city-level legal issues ranging from auto accidents to wrongful terminations. Contact Aaron at [email protected] for article suggestions, collaborations, or inquiries.