Torts ch 1-4

Occupier

Individual who does not own but who uses real estate; includes tenants and leasees

Burden of proof

The plaintiff has the burden of proof and must prove that the defendant was negligent. This forces the plaintive to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that all negligence elements existed -duty, breach, causation, and damages

Plaintiff with in class of persons protected by statute

The plaintiff must be within the class of persons protected by the statute or ordinance and the statute must be designed to protect the class of persons from the type of mom that occurred

Duty

The obligation either to do or not do something in negligence, the duty of due (reasonable care) is the responsibility to act reasonably as to avoid injuring others

Defendants response to plaintiffs claims of negligence

I defendant has a variety of ways to respond to plaintiffs allegations of negligence in a lawsuit. For instance after the pleadings are served, a defendant can use a demurrer, a file a motion for summary judgment, or file a motion to dismiss

State licensing

It is the states that have the option of regulating medical malpractice, states maintain their sovereignty over torts, medical care, and medical malpractice claims

Special relationships

Just a few of the many special relationships that might create a duty to act are those between employer and employee, a parent and a child, a teacher and a student, and in keeper and a guest, a hospital in a patient, and a common carrier and passenger

Certificate of merit

Part of a system in many states that requires each medical malpractice case to be certified by a medical doctor as having merit; the certificate of merit must be filled with the court

Public policy objectives in tort law

Several purposes underlie toward principles These include 1. Protecting persons and property from unjust injury by providing legally enforceable rights 2. Compensating victims by holding accountable those persons responsible for causing such harms 3. Encouraging minimum standards of social conduct among societies members 4. Deterring violations of those standards of conduct 5. Allocating losses among different participants in the social arenas

Premises liability

Special negligence rules apply to owners in occupiers of land

Toxic tort as negligence per se

Statute sometimes declare that violations of regulations regarding the transportation, disposal or management of hazardous or toxic substances create a presumption of negligence as a matter of law

Sensory perception rule

Still other courts of insisted that the bystander must perceive the traumatic, negligent event directly through the senses Ex: sing the collision, curing the child screams, feeling the heat of the car exploding, smelling a burning car

Professional community standard of care

The Carrie used in negligent cases involving defendants with special skills and knowledge

Causation

The chain of events linking the tortfeasors conduct to the victims injury.

Burden of rejoinder

The defendants burden of proof to refute the plaintiffs evidence in a lawsuit

Service of process

The delivery of a legal paper by an authorized person

Respondeat superior

The employer is responsible for the negligence (or, for that matter, any towards) that his or her employees come out while working. This doctrine of vicarious liability is called respondeat superior, I Latin phrase meaning, let the master answer

Discovery

The exchange of information and narrowing of the issues in dispute in the case

Negligence

The failure of an ordinary, responsible, and prudent person to exercise due care in a given set of circumstances. Negligence does not require an intent to commit a wrong for action. The wrong for action itself is sufficient to constitute negligence In a negligence case, one must always ask whether the following exist duty, breach, causation, and damages

Answer

The first pleading by the defendant in a lawsuit. This pleading response to the charges and demands of the plaintiffs complaint The defendants response(answer) to the complaint must be filed with the court and served upon the opposing party

Complaint

The first pleading filed in a lawsuit. It includes a statement of the wrong or harm done to the plaintive by the defendant After being injured or harmed in some manner, the plaintiff might seek out legal representation. -The attorney will have the client sign a retainer, (a written agreement authorizing the attorney to represent him or her)

Preponderance of the evidence

The greater weight of the evidence this is a standard of proof generally used in civil lawsuits it's not as high of a standard as clear and conflicting evidence or beyond a reasonable doubt

Victim status on land defines scope of duty

The landowner owed a different duty reasonable care to the injured party depending upon when is the victim was a trespasser, a licensee, or an invitee

Vicarious liability

The liability of one person (called the principle), for the tortious conduct of another, individual, (called the agent), who is acting on the principles behalf

Matching skills and abilities

A reasonable person is supposed to resemble the defendant as closely as possible in terms of special abilities. This enables the trier of fact to assess reasonableness more precisely in a specific case

National standard of care

A standard applied throughout the nation

Substantial factor analysis

A test for indirect causation and negligent cases Substantial factor analysis states that the tortfeasors liable for injuries to the victim when the tortfeasors misconduct was a substantial factor and producing the harm

Mini trial

Alternate dispute resolution by panel of executives from two companies engaged in a complex dispute. A neutral moderator helps the two sides

Summary jury trial

Alternate dispute resolution in which the judge orders the two sides in a complex case to present their case to a small jury the parties may agree in advance not to be bound by the verdict

Rent a judge

Alternate dispute resolution in which two sides in a dispute choose a person to decide the dispute. The two sides may agree to make the procedure informal or formal

Medical malpractice

Went to medical providers treatment of a patient falls below the standard of care that causes injury or death

Motion to dismiss

When a party bring some motion requesting that a case be terminated

Motion for summary judgment

When a party brings a motion to the court for a judgment and his or her favor, play me there is no genuine issue as to a material fact to be decided in a case

Arbitration

The resolution of the dispute by a person other than a judge Their decision is binding -you have to follow it

Types of intentional torts

intentional, reckless, and negligent

Loss of consortium

The loss of a spouses services - I.e. Companionship, or ability to have sexual relations

Elements of negligence

1. Duty of care, 2. breach of the duty by the tortfeasor, 3. causation of injury to the victim, 4. damages to the victim

IRAC method steps

1. General tort topic -> intentional torts 2. Specific tort -> battery 3. Issues framed by fact -> A customer walks up to a store clerk and beat him until he is in shock 4. Rule of law -> touching another without consent is a battery 5. Application of rule of law to facts -> The beating wasn't unconsented to touching 6. Conclusion -> A battery occurred

Negligent infliction of emotional distress

1. Outrageous conduct by the tortfeasor 2. The tortfeasor reasonably should have anticipated would produce significant in reasonably foreseeable emotional injury to the victim 3. The tortfeasor breached his or her duty a reasonable care to avoid causing such emotional harm to the victim 4. The victim was a reasonably for seeable plaintiff

Test to hold the land owner liable under the attractive nuisance doctrine

1. The owner must not know or have a reason to know of the artificial condition on the premises ex: not a natural feature on the land 2. Sure, instrument to Lee, or condition must be a learning to children and in danger them. They cannot know or appreciate the danger 3. The presence of children must reasonably have been anticipated 4. The danger posed to the children outweighs the cost of making the condition safe

Medical malpractice panel

A group that usually consist of an independent attorney, judge, and a physician selected to evaluate the merits of a medical malpracti

Scope of duty

A limitation on the persons to whom one owes the duty

tort

A civil (as opposed to a criminal) wrong, other than a breach of contract. A tort is a wrongful injury to a person or his or her property. For example, when you hurt a person or damage a person's property, these are considered torts.

Overview of a civil case

A civil case generally proceeds in the following manner: 1. Complaint 2. Answer 3. Discovery 4. Pretoria procedures 5. Trial 6. Post trial procedures

Indemnity

A contract to reimburse another for actual loss suffered

Descendent

A person against whom in action is brought

Plaintive

A person who brings a lawsuit

tortfeasor

A person who commits a tort.

Independent contractor

A person who contracts with an employer to do a particular piece of work by his or her own methods and under his or her own control Someone who is entered into a contract with another person to perform a specific task. The independent contractor controls how he or she accomplishes the job. The individual hiring the independent contractor simply agrees to pay him or her for doing the chore they are not liable

invitees

A person who is at a place by invitation Persons invited upon the landowners premises Invitees or person coming onto the land for some purpose that the owner wishes to serve. Commonly, this includes any business, but could also include nonprofit organization's, such as churches, soup kitchens, charitable hospitals, or even colleges landowners of the highest duty of reasonable care of the invitees, because the risk of injury is greater and the benefit is more personal than social

Breach of duty

A persons actions fall below a standard of care In order to determine this, the standard of reasonable care needs to be defined, to see if the tortfeasors actions fell below the standard of care In tort law, if an injury is for seeable, then one should take precautions to avoid the behavior that might be expected to cause harm

Malpractice

A professional negligence failure to observe the appropriate standard of care in providing services to a client or patient is not practice As mentioned in the prior chapter, the standard of care for professionals is now a national standard for the most part, rather than based on a particular locale

Professional malpractice

A professionals negligent failure to observe the appropriate standard of care and providing services to a client or patient Failure to exercise the degree of care and skill reasonably required of like professionals in similar circumstances, if that failure causes damage or injury, is malpractice

Proximate cause

A.k.a. legal cause Exist when the tortfeasors actions caused a foreseeable injury to the victim. If foreseeability is not present, the no duty is owed Proximate causes a subcategory of causation Proximate cause is the zone within which the plaintiffs injury was reasonably foreseeable as a consequence of the defendants behavior

The Dylan approach

A.k.a. the California approach 1. The bystanders closeness to the emotionally disturbing incident 2. The bystanders relationship to the injured party 3. Bystanders personal perception of the emotionally distressing occurrence 4. Physical manifestations arising from the emotional distress

Intentional torts

Actions expressly designed with the purpose of injuring or the intent to injure another person or that person's property, and not in the criminal sense

When donors different duties of reasonable care

American courts devise different standards of reasonable care for landowners Orlando users. The distinctions depended upon whom the injured party was, in terms of the victims purpose for being on the land where the owners negligence was alleged to have occurred

Reasonable person test (standard)

An imaginary individual who is expected to behave reasonably under a given set of circumstances to avoid harming others

Independent contractor

An individual who works for a business or other entity, and his or her own manner, controlling the way in which the work is done; not an employee of the business or entity

Foreseeable injury

An injury that a reasonably prudent person should have anticipated

Superseding cause

An intervening cause that becomes a proximate cause of an injury

Intervening causes

And intervening cause breaks the chain between a wrongful act or omission and an injury when the act or omission is for seeable

Cap on damages

And limit on the amount of damages that can be awarded or collected

Solving tort problems

Another approach toward problem-solving is moving from broad subject areas to specific types of torts. -Use the IRAC Method. This method identifies the exact issues, rules of law, and conclusions in a problem by helping the reader to narrow analytical focus

Attractive nuisance

Any item that is dangerous to young children but that is so interesting and a Loring as to attract them

Pre-trial procedures

Any procedure that immediately proceed to trial, for example, the settlement conference Generally there is a pretrial conference (settlement conference) after the initial summons and complaint are served during the conference, the judge will set up a schedule to complete discovery, and encourage the parties to settle the case before trial

Family relationships rule

Doctrine used in negligent infliction of emotional distress cases. A bystander may recover damages if here she witnesses the tortfeasor injuring one or more of the bystanders relatives

But for causation

But for the defendants ask, the plaintiffs injury would not have happened

Cause in fact

Cause of injury or negligent cases. If the tortfeasors actions resulted in the victims injuries, and the tortfeasor was the cause-and-effect of the victims harm The defendants ask must be the actual and factual because of the plaintiffs

Special damages

Compensatory damages that are specific to particular plaintive

General damages

Compensatory damages that naturally result from the harm caused by the defendants actions

Frolic and detour rule

Conduct a monopoly that falls outside of the scope of employment that is purely for the benefit of setting for you. And employer is not responsible for the negligence of an employee on a frolic of his or her own

Motor vehicle vicarious liability

Courts have ruled that passengers and automobile could be held vicariously liable for the drivers negligence The better principal, long employed by the courts, hold the vehicle owner vicariously liable for the negligence of a driver other than the owner. For instance, suppose Britney's younger brother is driving her car negligently and crashes into a motorcycle is in during the motorcyclist. Under vicarious liability Britney would be accountable for her brothers negligence, because he was carelessly using her vehicle and injured another person as a result Many state legislators have an active statute imposing by carious liability on owners the negligence of others you drive their vehicles. These are sometimes called motor vehicle consent statutes

Absolute liability mislabeled as negligence per se

Courts occasionally quite negligence per se was strict, or absolute, liability Negligence per se simply presumes negligence because of the tortfeasors violation of the statute Absolute liability holds the tortfeasor accountable, regardless of fault, for doing an abnormally dangerous activity. No degree of care is sufficient to avoid strict liability

Compensatory damages

Damages awarded for the actual loss suffered by plaintive The policy behind compensatory damages in tort law is to make the plaintiff whole

Hedonic damages

Damages for the loss of the enjoyment of life, or value of life

Evolution of modern tort law

During the 18th and 19th centuries, English tort law began to shift from the old writ system to torts involving intent and fall, known today as intentional torts and negligence United States copied the evolution Gradually, common law grew to include the modern towards discussed throughout this text. Today's tort law is a combination of English and American common law, plus statutory law

The Kings writs

During the middle ages, much of common law was passed on Orally. As a result, common law often verified widely among localities To unify these divergent ideas, the king established formal procedures (kings writs) by which crown subjects could petition the Kings Court for redress. There were originally only two types of actions permitted to be brought for torts 1. The write for trespass 2. The writ for trespass on the case First was for serious breaches second was for minor breaches

Unique elements of each tort

Each toward contains it's own unique elements, which are needed to bring a lawsuit Although the elements of each short are you need, tour analysis in general is the same

Economic damages

Economic losses are the out-of-pocket expenses of plaintiff in cars, such as medical expenses and lost earnings

Federal legislation

Efforts to regulate medical malpractice suits have been repeatedly propose at the federal level, but the argument needs to be made that these regulations require national uniformity, and fall under the commerce clause of the United States Constitution

Common law

Either all case law or the case law that is made by judges in the absence of relevant statutes

Coming and going rule

Employers are usually not vicariously liable for the negligence of their employees all the employees are coming to you are going from work. Situation in which an employer would be liable in such circumstances as if the employee were performing work related activity is well on the way to or from the job, such as picking up office supplies at the employers request

Taking the victim as you find him

Ethereum negligence cases stating that the victims injuries were reasonably for seeable even if the tortfeasor was unaware of the victims particular physical, health, or other pre-existing conditions Taking the victim cases make almost any physical injury reasonably for seeable. However, it still must be prove that it was for seeable that an injury would occur from the defendants actions

Rebuttal

Evidence that just proves what the other party has offered

Punitive damages

Extra money (over and above compensatory damages) given to a plaintive to punish the defendant and to keep a particularly bad ax from happening again

Cost-benefit analysis of behavior

Four factors are involved 1. Foreseeability of harm 2. Foreseeability of serious injury 3. Amount of effort needed to prevent the injury 4. The social value or benefit of the behavior These factors are also known as the factors in breach of duty evaluation process

Special role for trespassing children -attractive nuisance

However, landowners Oh a duty a reasonable care to tresspassing children. THis rule affords greater protection to children then to the ordinary trespassers

res ipsa loquitur

I Latin term meeting the thing speaks for itself It is use the negligence cases in which the plaintiff is in a disadvantage position for proving the defendants negligence because the evidence is unavailable to the plaintive, but is or should be available to the defendant

Prima facie case

I case that will be one unless the other side come forward with evidence to disprove it Once the plaintive has made a prima Facie case (meaning that the proof is been established by our beyond a preponderance), the burden shifts to the defendant, who must then in counter the plaintiffs evidence with proof of his or her own ^ this is sometimes called the defend its burden of rejoinder, burden of persuasion, or rebuttal

The key to understanding tort law

Identify the type of broadsword category involved in the case Ask whether the issue contains intentional torts, and if so, which particular one- negligence or strict liability. Then look to the definition and rules that separate the particular tour in question from the other torts in the broad category

Release settlement agreement

If the case should settle, the client will need to sign a settlement agreement, outlining the terms of the settlement. In addition, the parties will need to file a stipulation just continuing action with the court. This document is to advise that the case has been settled, and there is no need for a trial

Attractive nuisance doctrine

Illegal principal, used in some states, that if a person keeps dangerous property in a way that children might be attracted to it, then that person is responsible children get hurt

Violation of the statute

In most states, the violation of such a statute would be considered negligence per se. This would mean that the proof of the violation of the statute would be sufficient to show that there was negligence; the defendant when does be prevented from introducing evidence as to the degree of care or reasonableness used

Gross negligence

Involves carelessness that exceeds ordinary, reasonable care standards and approaches willful and wonton misconduct

Most important type of strict liability

Is Products liability Under products liability, the manufacturer or the seller of an unreasonably dangerous or defective product is held liable for injuries in the product causes Ex: both the car manufacturer and car dealer would be held liable for injuries resulting from a defective car

Strict (absolute) liability torts

Is The tortfeasors responsibility for ensuring another, regardless of intent, negligence, or fault Strickler ability is different from intentional torts and that the intent to commit a strict liability tort is a relevant. Strict liability usually applies to activities that have high probability of endangering the public, such as using fireworks. It is distinguishable from negligence, because the tortfeasor is responsible understripped liability regardless of how careful he or she might've been, and even if here she did not intend harm to occur

Elements in a legal malpractice claim

Just like with medical malpractice, or any other kind of professional malpractice, the four elements of negligence must be shown Instead of establishing a physician/patient relationship, an attorney/client relationship must be proven to establish a duty owed In order to prove damages it must be approved at the legal case had merit, and that the client would have been awarded damages or would have received more damages had the attorney taking the proper action

Landowner zero duty toward trespassers

Landowners and I duty reasonable care toward trespassers

Landowners duty a reasonable care towards licensees

Licensees or persons who have permission to be up on another's land. They're distinguishable from trespassers in that the landowner has consented to their present upon his or her realty Owner of the licensees of duty a reasonable care in using the real estate, because of the risk and benefit are equal

Using traditional negligence theory and landowner cases

Many courts have eliminated the trespasser/licensee/invitee approach in favor of regular negligence theory

Emotional distress

Mental anguish. Non-physical harm that may be compensated for by damages and some types of lawsuits

Alternative dispute resolution

Method to resolve a legal problem without a court decision

Special duty based upon special relationship

Most negligent actions are based upon an affirmative duty or act out to another that is in properly formed. In contrast, if a person feels to act, they're generally is no liability and negligence, except under certain limited exceptions

Negligence per se

Negligence that's beyond debate because the lawn, has established a duty or standard of care that the defendant has violated, that's causing injury to the plaintive Usually a statute or ordinance

Non-economic damages

Nine economic losses, such as pain or humiliation, have no particular objective dollar amount that can be placed on them

Liability within scope of employment

Not every employee activity triggers the respondeat superior doctrine, And employer is responsible for an employees actions that fall within the scope of employment

Nominal damages

Not recoverable and actions for ordinary negligence one damages or an element of the cause of action They are small or symbolic damages awarded in situations in which no actual damages have occurred

Legal malpractice

Occurs when an attorney falls below the standard of care required. Courts look at the standard of reasonably prudent care by an attorney in the same jurisdiction. The model rules of professional conduct and acted by the American Bar Association I've been adopted by a majority of the states

Minimum standards of social conduct - Deterrence

One extremely important Norm encourages the public to behave in such a manner as to avoid hurting others or their belongings Persons functioning below search thresholds are defined as tortfeasors And individuals acting at or above such criteria are acceptable to the community

E discovery malpractice

One of the newer claims of malpractice so much a law firm fails to supervise it outside vendor, it's attorneys, we're at staff, and during the course of discovery confidential privilege documents were produced/exposed

Unforeseeable plaintiffs

Persons his injuries the tortfeasor could not reasonably have anticipated as a result of the tortfeasors actions

Standard reasonable care

Reasonable care is a very difficult concept to define a negligent law Tort laws developed an abstract measure a reasonable care called the reasonable person test (standard)

Damages

Restitution for the injuries that the plaintiff suffered as a result of the defendants tortious conduct Courts will not compensate a victim and less some documentable harm has been done - certain intentional torts, such as battery, assault, or trespass, no physical harm is required With a technical trespass, it is sufficient at the tortfeasor engaged in the unauthorized act Battery can be achieved merely by unconsented to touching. In negligence law, however, some determinable injury must be proven for the tortfeasor to be held liable to the injured party

Physical manifestations rule

The majority of courts have a band in the impact rule in favor of the physical manifestations rule This requires that, in addition to mental suffering, the plaintiff must experience physical symptoms as a result of the emotional distress

Tort reform

The movement by legislatures to reduce the amount or kinds of awards that plaintiffs can receive in certain legal actions Due to tour or form, caps of been placed on the amount of money and injured plaintiff can collect in medical malpractice actions

Defenses to negligence per se

The negligence defenses of contributory negligence, comparative negligence, and assumption of risk also apply to negligence per se cases

Foreseeability

The notion that a specific action, under particular circumstances, would produce an anticipated results

Elements of res ipsa loquitur

The plaintiff must prove only certain essential facts, such as 1. what injury occurred, 2. what the defendant was doing, 3. and how the defendants actions or in actions related to the plaintiffs harm To use res ipsa loquitur, whatever card must not ordinarily occur without someone acting negligently 1. The defendant (or his or her employee[s]) must have been in exclusive control of the object or action that produced the plaintiff 's injury. 2. The plaintiff's injury must be of a type that ordinarily would not have happened unless negligence were involved. 3. The defendant must be in a better position to prove his or her lack of negligence than the plaintiff is to prove the defendant's negligence.

Employment is not an essential element

The principal/agent relationship, however, need not be that of an employer employee Was one person acting on behalf of another? If so, a principal/agent relationship is present, and vicarious liability can exist

Post trial procedures

The procedures that occur after a trial, such as and appeal or the steps taken to collect on an award

Trial

The process of deciding a case -giving evidence, making arguments, deciding by a judge and jury, etc. Your clients day in court This is the clients chance to be heard and explain his or her side of an incident

Scope of employment

The range of actions within which employee is considered to be doing work for the employer

Zone of danger rules

The rule in some states that a plaintiff must be in danger of physical harm, and frightened by the danger, to collect damages for the negligent infliction of emotional distress that results from seeing another person injured by the plaintiff Under this rule, only bystanders who fall with in the zone of danger camera cover for negligent infliction of the emotional distress

Impact rule

The rule that damages for emotional distress cannot be had in a negligence lawsuit unless there is some physical contact or impact The purpose of this impact requirement is to protect against false claims of emotional distress

Contribution

The sharing of payment among persons who are liable for the debt Or The right of a person who is paid an entire debt to get back a fair share of the payment from another person who is also responsible for the debt

Compensating the victim

The system composed the tortfeasor to compensate the injured party for his or her losses

Duty rule for good Samaritans

There's no duty to come to the assistance of those in need A good Samaritan is a person who comes to the assistance of another person without being required to act The good Samaritan doctrine provides that all the person is not obligated to come to the aid of another, once assistance is attempted, the good Samaritan has the obligation to do no harm

Commingling

They are not Sicle mixing of a clients money with that of an attorney. Client money should always be kept separate

Causation of injury

Third element in proving a negligence case Even if the defendant reaches his or her duty of care oh to the plaintive, the defendant will not be legally negligent, nor liable for the plaintiffs injuries, unless the defendants actions proximately caused the harm To have causation, both cause in fact and proximate cause must be present

Elements of medical malpractice

To establish a medical malpractice case, the basic four elements of a negligence claim must be proved. 1. First, a duty must be owed. To demonstrate this, it must be shown that there was a physician/patient relationship. 2. Next, there must be a breach of duty, which is proved by showing that the physician affirmatively did something or neglected to do something and fell below the standard of care owed to the patient. 3. Then, the element of causation is needed to show that it was the physician's acts or omissions that actually caused the harm the plaintiff suffered. 4. Last, there must be damages—some sort of physical or mental injury must have resulted from the medical treatment.

Demurrer

To follow pleading objecting to the sufficiency of the plaintiffs complaint, stating that even if everything the plaintive alleges is true, it does not state a cause of action, and the case should be dismissed

Censure

To publicly or privately criticize or condemn the accident attorney

Allocating losses among different individuals or groups

Today, people buy canned fruit from a local grocery that bought it from a wholesaler that bought it from a manufacturer that bought it from a grower The lines of culpability become less clear as the producer of the defective item becomes more removed from the ultimate user, and might even have its factory in another country Tort laws has evolved products liability to determine who is in the best position to bear the cost of the defective products Courts and legislators have made an economic decision stating that industry can best afford the cost of injuries caused by dangerously made goods -so the burden of shouldering the economic loss is placed upon the commercial business instead of the individual suffering the harm Likewise Worker's Compensation statute of been in acted by state law to address whether the employee or employer will bear the cost of workplace accidents -usually the employer

Deterring violations of those standards

Tort law discourages abuses by establishing a clear system of legal rights and remedies enforceable in court proceedings We know that we might go to court if we strike someone, invade someone's privacy, create a nuisance, or act negligently toward someone/something

Protecting persons and property - Accountability

Tort law enables private citizens to use the legal system to resolve disputes in which one party claims that the other has acted improperly, resulting in harm

History of tort law

Tort law, like all American law, traces its origins to English and Western European history. The result is common law, which at the time consisted of the underlying legal principles and social attitudes gleaned from generations of judicial decisions by local tribunals Today the bulk of tort law has been derived from the common law heritage of court decisions

Sources of tort law

Tort laws drive from both common law and statutory law. Common law developed from the decisions following court trials

Categories of tort law

Torts are commonly subdivided into three broad categories negligence, intentional torts, and strict (or absolute) liability

Tort analysis

Toward analysis should go from the general to the specific

For seeable plaintiffs theory

Under this theory, if it were reasonably for seeable that the injured victim would be harmed as a consequence of the tortfeasors actions, and the tortfeasor scope of duty includes the victim

Other legal malpractice examples

When and attorney misses a deadline, forgets about a quarter parents, fails to keep up with changes in the law, or fails to perform any of the services promised in the retainer agreement Use of drugs or alcohol can also factor into legal malpractice, such as when attorney has an addiction that affects the quality of work performed

Imputed

When someone is blame for something based merely on his or her relationship with another

Joint and several liability

When two or more defendants at together to produce the plaintiffs injury, the courts consider them to have acted in concert. All defendants are held liable for their combined conduct in such cases -Multiple tortfeasors are each held individually accountable to the victim for the combined negligent behavior of all the tortfeasors Multiple tortfeasors may injure a person but acting in sequence, rather than simultaneously Ex: assume that a shipping company does not refrigerate a shipment of perishable food. -As a result, the Atom spoil in transit. -The shipment arrives at a supermarket, where workers fail to notice the spoiled condition of the products and stuck them on the shelves. --Jeremy buy some of the goods but doesn't check them for freshness, despite obvious odors and discoloration. -After he cooks dinner he eats the bad food and become seriously ill