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Gross Negligence
Negligence is a legal wrong committed when somebody causes injury through carelessness, but the injury is not intended. For negligence to exist, the actor must have some duty to exercise care towards a specific person, or class of people. They must then fail to meet that duty, and that failure must cause injury. The level of care required is generally defined as that which would be exercised by a “reasonable person”, exercising “ordinary care”.
While negligence is committed when an actor’s level of care falls below that which would be expected of a reasonable person, gross negligence is a far more severe failure. It is generally defined as a failure to exercise any care. It can also be looked at another way: a person commits gross negligence when they deliberately act in a way which they know, or should know, is very likely to cause harm.
For example, if a person is driving above the speed limit and causes an accident, they have probably committed negligence. If he or she is driving over the speed limit, and under the influence of alcohol, then causes an identical accident, he or she has probably committed gross negligence.
When a person is found to have committed gross negligence in a lawsuit, they usually have to pay additional damages. When a person commits negligence, they usually only have to pay “compensatory” damages. Those are damages designed to address a specific, tangible loss, such as medical expenses, property damage, lost wages, and compensation for pain and suffering.
In addition to compensatory damages, someone who commits gross negligence will have to pay “punitive” damages. These damages are not tied to any specific injury. Instead, they are a punishment designed to deter similar conduct in the future. They can often be very high, several times higher than compensatory damages, sometimes running in the millions of dollars.
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