Chapter 7 Negligence Strict Liability conduct that falls below the level reasonably necessary to protect ithers I Negligence against significant risks of harm a Elements of a negligence claim i Defendant owed a duty of care to the plaintiff ii Defendant committed a breach of his duty iii Breach was the actual and proximate casue of injury experienced by the plaintiff b Duty Breach of Duty i Duty of Resonable Care 1 reasonable person test a defendant failed to act as a reasonable person 1 only a breach only if the defendant owed plaintiff duty in ii Was Duty Owed the first place iii Was the duty Breached 1 compares the defendatnts actions with those that a hypothetical person with ordinary prudence and sensibilities would have taken under the circumstanes focuses on defendants behavior rather on mental state of mind 2 iv Only protects against plaintiff Only if defendant acted unreasonably v Special Duties 1 when performing professional duties professionals such as doctors accountants and lawyers must exercise their skill and care ordinarily possessed and employed members of their profession vi Duties on Person on Property 1 possessor of property must take care to look out for people inside property Invitees a i Business visitor ii Public Invitees b Licensees enters property for own purpose not for a purposr associated with the possesors business but enters with consent i Possesor must warn them of dangerous on site conditions they must encounter c Trespassers enters land without consent nor without any other privilege i Ow no duty but must not sillfully and wantonly onjur trespassers once their presence is known vii Negligence Per Se the defendants violation of such laws may create a breach of duty and may allow the plaintiff to win the case if the plaintiff 1 was within class of person intended to be protected by the statue of the law and 2 suffered harm of a sort that the statue or other law was intended to protect against 1 courts use statues ordinances or administrative regulations to determine how a reasonable person would behave proof that a defendandt breacjed a duty does not gurantee that II Causation of Injury the plaintiff will win a neglengence case Must prove that defendants breach casused her injury a Types of Injury and Damages i Personal Injury har to the plaintiffs body 1 can recover compensatory damages ii Property Damages property item harm to the plaintiffs real eastate or a personal iii ONLY Compensatory damages can be recovered becaue negligence does not constitute enough for punitive damages b Causation Link need link between causation and injury 1 apply but for was X not have been hurt but for y s i Actual Case actions ii Proximate Cause iii Later Acts Forces or Events 1 an act that occurred after breach of contract How Foreseeable the act was a A fire is set but spread rapidly due to obnornally high winds 2 Intervening Causes an act after the cause that was in response to but not related to event you are nto liable for a A balance driver is drunk gets into accident person who called ambulance driver is not responsible III Res Ipsa Loquitor the thng speaks for itself a Case where a barrel of flour falls out and hits some guy b Applies when i Defendant has exclusive control of the the instrumentality of harm 1 and therefore probable knowledge of and responsibility fir the casue of the harm ii the harm that occurred would not normally occur in the absence on negligence iii plaintiff was in no way responsible for his injury IV Negligence Defense b Comparitive Negligence a Contributory Negligence plaintiffs failure to exercise reasonable care fir her own safety safety only a slight departure from the standard of reasonable self protectivness gave the defendant a omplete defense minor failure to exercise reasonable care for ones c Assumption of Risk plaintiffs voluntary cause to a known danger V Strict Liability is liability without fault of perhaps more precisely irrespective of fault Meaning the defendant is liable even though he did not intend to cause harm and did not bring it about through recklessness or negligence cannot be eliminated by the exercise of reasonable care those necessarily involving risk of harm that VI Abnormally Dangerous Activities
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