Tort Laws

Types of Torts

-*unintentional*: Tort of negligence -*intentional*: torts agains the person; assault or battery or false imprisonment -*torts against chattels (property)*: trespassing goods, conversion of goods -*torts against land*: trespassing land, public and private nuisance -*tort of defamation*: libel (printed lies) and slander (spoken lies); must have causes harm, must prove this happened and it caused you harm and someone else (a 3rd party) has proof they heard/read it

Elements of Negligent Torts:

-a duty of care must be owned by one person to another -if you breach (break) that duty of care and thus have caused pain to the plaintiff; damages (physical or financial) must have been suffered as a result of the breach of trust

causation in fact

-aka "but for" defendant's: but for the defendant's actions would the injury have occurred to the plaintiff? (ex: A hits B in the shin with a golf club. B's shin would not have been injured if A had not hit him in the shin

proximate cause

-ultimately, it is more of a policy question than a legal question. The issue is where the law wants to cut off the liability for a negligent actor -several theories exist regarding proximate cause: 1) foreseeability 2) direct causation 3) the "danger zone": aka things you should see having a bad outcome, ex: racing on a freeway

defamation

1) statement was made 2) was published: meaning a 3rd party heard it/ read it 3) statement caused harm 4) statement was false 5) not privileged

what is a Tort?

Blacks Law defines a Ttort as: 1) a civil wrong for which a remedy may be obtained, usually in the form of damages 2) the branch of law dealing with such wrongs AKA: all the crazy stuff you can possibly imagine happening to a person

Negligent Torts: Breach

a breach is, once you determine the standard of care, you ask: did the defendant follow that standard of care? (ex: if the standard requires the owner of an aggressive dog to keep the dog on a leash and the owner does not do so, he has breached the duty of care

Duty of Care

everyone has a duty to exercise due care all of the time -due care: the amount of care that a *reasonable person* would exercise under circumstances -*reasonable person*: not a real person or even the average person, but an imaginary prudent person who takes the precautions necessary to avoid harming another person or their property

Intentional Torts

torts caused intentionally by the tortfeasor

Negligent Torts

torts that are causes by the negligence of the tortfeasor, or person who commits the tort definition: a duty is imposed on a person by law to act with care towards others. If this duty exists and there is a failure to act carefully and another person suffers loss, then the tort of negligence is committed

causation

two types: 1) causation in fact 2) proximate cause

Strict Liability Torts

where the law has determined that some activities are so dangerous that an individual engaging in those activities is liable for damages regardless of intent or negligence resulting in harm (ex: blasting dynamite)