Res ipsa loquitur shifts burden to defendant when accident unlikely without negligence

Res ipsa loquitur is a legal principle meaning "the thing speaks for itself" that applies when an accident is so improbable without negligence that reasonable inference suggests defendant's fault. The doctrine shifts burden of proof to defendant to demonstrate either absence of negligence or that the accident could have occurred without negligence. For application, plaintiff must establish that the instrumentality causing injury was under defendant's exclusive control and the accident type ordinarily doesn't occur without negligence. This rebuttable presumption operates primarily in civil tort law rather than criminal negligence cases, serving as an evidentiary rule to determine burden of proof in negligence actions.

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