Chapter 1 Flashcards
(233 cards)
Negligence
Part of the body of law we call tort law - th law of torts addresses the allocation of losses arising out of human activity
Conduct which causes an unreasonable risk of harm to others
A person fails to exercise ordinary care, when, without intending to do any harm, he or she does something or fails to do something under circumstances in which a reasonable person would foresee that by his or her action or failure to act, he or she will subject a person to an unreasonable risk of injury or damage
Liability for damage caused by dog
The owner of a dog is liable for the full amount of damages caused by the dog inuring or causing injury to a person, domestic animal, or property
Intentional torts
Torts caused by deliberate action
Assault, libel, slander, etc.
Criminal negliengence
example: homicide by negligent operation of a motor vehicle
Accident (active) negligence
Driving negligently
Injury (passive) negligence
Failure to wear a seatbelt or helmet
Elements (what you must prove to prevail in a negligence lawsuit)
- Duty of care
- Breach of the duty of care
- Standard of conduct
Duty of care
There must be a duty of care owed by the deendent to the plaintiff
Foreseeability of risk test = a duty is owed to the plaintiff if the consequences resulting from the defendant’s negligient conduct ought to have been reasonbly foreseeable by the defendant
Breach of the duty of care
If there is a duty of care owed, then you must show that this duty of care was breached (act of negligence)
Standard of conduct
What was the degree of carefulness that a reasonable person would have exercised in a given situation
Based on our society’s expectations as to how people should act in relation to each other
Trespassers
Anyone on the property without consent
Licenses
Anyone on the property to servie his or her own purposes but with consent
- property owner is responsible to the licensee to warn of hidden dangers of which the owner knows
Invitees
Anyone on the property as a right because it is a public place or a business - property owner is responsible to the invitee to exercise reasonable care in providing a safe place
Recreational contact sports activities
Did the participant who caused the injury act recklessly or with an intent to cause injury?
Recklessness - acting without intent to inflict the particular harm but in a manner which is so unreasonably dangerous that the person knows that it is highly probabl that harm will result
Person is only liable if acted recklessly or with intent
“Baseball Rule”
Person hit with flyng baseball cant make a claim because she knowingly exposes herself to the inherent risks
“But for” test
Would the event not have occured but for the defendant’s conduct?
“Substantial factor” test (wisconsin)
was the defendant’s conduct a substantial factor in causing the event
Wisconsin public policy considerations in determining whether there is proximate cause
Inury too remote
Injury out of proportion to negligent act
In retrospect, it appears extraordinary that negligence caused the harm
Unreasonable burden on defendant
Lead to fraudulent claims
No sensible or just stopping point if claim is allowed
Safety statute
a legislative enactment designed to protect a specified class of persons from a particular type of harm
Negligence per se
Negligence as a matter of law
Res ipsa loquitur
Elements which permit you to infer from the accident itself and the surrounding circumstances that the defendant was negligent unless the defendant offers a satisfactory explanation otherwise
necessary elements:
- defendant had control over the circumstances surrounding the event
- event would not have occurred in the absence of negligence
- no other reasonable explanation for the evetnt offered by defendant which shifts the blame to some other person
Judge jobs
Duty, proximate cause and whether a compensable injury was suffered by the plaintiff
Jury jobs
Breach of duty, actual cause, allocation of negligence, complensation for injury — a verdict agreed to by 5/6 of the jurors shall be the verdict of the jury
Wisconsin is a “blindfold” state
Judges do not instruct jurors on the effect of special verdict answers
other states are “sunshine”