What is Negligence?

In everyday conversations, we often hear people use the term negligence. People tend to loosely use the term to mean that some company or some person did something wrong. So, what does negligence mean?In basic terms, Black’s Law Dictionary defines negligence as “the failure to exercise the standard of care that a reasonably prudent person would have exercised in a similar situation.” Under West Virginia law, a cause of action (or legal claim) for negligence is made up of four basic elements: (1) a duty owed; (2) the breach of the duty owed; (3) causation; and (4) damages.