Bus. Law Final - Ch. 9 Review

Elements to a defamation claim:

1. Defamatory statement: A false statement concerning a party's reputation or honesty or a statement that subjects a party to hate, contempt, or ridicule. 2. Dissemination to a third party: This element requires that the statement must somehow reach the ears or eyes of someone other than the tortfeasor and the victim. 3. Specificity: The statement must be about a particular party, business, or product. 4. Damages: The aggrieved party must be able to prove that they suffered some pecuniary (relating to/consisting of money) harm.

Elements of Negligece

1. Duty: Did the tortfeasor owe a duty of care to the injured party? 2. Breach of duty: Did the tortfeasor fail to exercise reasonable care? 3. Cause in fact: Except for the breach of duty by the tortfeasor, would the injured party have suffered damages? 4: Proximate (legal) cause: Was there a legally recognized and close-in-proximity link between the breach of duty and the damages suffered by the injured party? 5. Actual Damages: Did the injured party suffer some physical harm that resulted in identifiable losses?

When one party induces another party to break an existing contract with a third party, the inducing party may be liable for any damages suffered by the innocent party as a result of breaking the contract. For the injured party to recover damages, the tortfeasor must have:

1. had specific knowledge of the contract 2. actively interfered with the contract 3. caused some identifiable damages (losses) to the injured party.

3 elements of fraudulent misrepresentation

1. the misrepresentation was a material fact known to be false by the tortfeasor (or was a reckless disregard of the truth) 2. the tortfeasor intended to persuade the innocent party to rely on the statement, and the innocent party did, in fact, rely on it. 3. damages were suffered by the innocent party

Strict Liability Torts

A civil wrong that occurs when a defendant takes an action that is inherently dangerous and cannot ever be undertaken safely, no matter what precautions the defendant takes. The defendant is liable for the plaintiff's damages without any requirement that the plaintiff proves that the defendant was negligent.

Assumption of the risk

A defense to claims of negligence in which the injured party knew that a substantial and apparent risk was associated with certain conduct and the party went ahead with the dangerous activity anyway.

Comparative negligence

A defense to claims of negligence in which the injured party's conduct has played a factor in the harm suffered and, thus, the proportion of negligence should be divided.

Merchant's privilege exception for false imprisonment

A narrow privelege, provided for in the Restatements, that shields a merchant from liability for temporarily detaining a party who is reasonably suspected of stealing merchandise.

fraudulent misrepresentation (fraud)

Any misrepresentation, either by misstatement or omission of a material fact, knowingly made with the intention of deceiving another and on which a reasonable person would and does rely to his or her detriment.

Business Competition Torts

Common law torts that arise when a tortfeasor (typically a competitor) interferes with an existing contract or hinders a prospective contract between two parties.

Privilege Defenses

If the injured party meets all of the requirements of a defamation claim, the defendant may still avoid liability if the defamatory statement falls into the category of privilege defenses.

Public Figure Standard

If the victim is a public figure, such as a candidate for political office or a celebrity, the defamation must have been committed with malice or reckless disregard for the truth.

Defenses to Negligence Claims

Once the elements of negligence are met, the analysis then shifts to potential defenses available to the tortfeasor.

Tortfeasor

One who commits a tort

Courts look to rules articulated by the American Law Institute (ALI) for guidance on applying common law legal principles. For tort law, these rules are known as the ...

Restatement of Torts

Defenses to Defamation

The second phase of a defamation analysis is an inquiry into wether the defendant may avail him or herself of a statutory or judicially recognized defense.

Tort

a civil wrong where one party has acted, or in some cases failed to act, and that action or inaction causes a loss to be suffered by another party.

Truth

an absolute defense to a charge of defamation. If the statement made is truthful, no defamation has occurred. To assert truth as a defense, the defendant must prove that the statement was either literally true or substantially true.

Tortious Interference with Prospective Advantage

an intentional business tort where a damaging action is taken against you or your business with full knowledge and/or intent to cause harm

The two primary defenses to claims of negligence are _____ and _____.

comparative negligence, assumption of the risk

Tort law is best understood as law that is intended to ...

compensate injured parties for losses resulting in harm from some unreasonable conduct by another.

False Imprisonment

intentional infliction of confinement upon another party; in the business context, a merchant most commonly encounters these circumstances in cases of suspected retail theft.

Privelege is a defense that recognizes either a ...

legal or public policy-based immunity from a defamation claim; it is divided into two categories: absolute privlege and qualified privlege

Strict liability is a concept rooted in the notion that the general public benefits when ...

liability is imposed on those who engage in certain activities that result in harm to another party, even if the activities are undertaken in the most careful manner possible (without negligence).

malice

mischief; evil intent; bad will

Tortious Interference with Existing Contractual Relationship

occurs when one person intentionally damages someone else's contractual or business relationships with a third party, causing economic harm.

Slander

spoken defamation

For the most part, tort law is governed by ...

state common law principles

Sources of Law: - Governed by ... - Secondary Source:

state common law principles, restatement of torts

Defamation

the action of damaging the good reputation of someone; slander or libel.

fraudulent misrepresentation (fraud) is also recognized as a tort in cases where ...

the law provides a remedy to recover damages when the innocent party suffers a pecuniary loss as a result of the false representation

Negligence

unintentional carelessness that can result in harm

Absolute Privelege

where the defendant does not need to offer any further evidence to assert the defense.

Qualified Privelege

where the defendant must offer evidence of good faith and be absent of malice to be shielded from liability.

Libel

written defamation