chapters 4-7

Question 1

Duty

Answer 1

An outcome that a person should have known or been able to anticipate or predict based on certain facts.

Question 2

Breach

Answer 2

When the defendant fails to live up to a legal standard or violates a duty
Without proof of breach the other elements in the case are meaningless

Question 3

Negligence per se

Answer 3

Negligence in and of itself the principle that the violation of a safety statute establishes a presumption of breach of duty in a negligence action

Question 4

Proximate Causation

Answer 4

The facts that show the defendants legal responsibility for the injuries to the plaintiff for an injury. It refers to the link between defendants actions or failure to act and injury to the plaintiff

Question 5

Damages

Answer 5

Monetary payments designed to compensate the plaintiff for an injury

Question 6

Standard of care

Answer 6

The standard used to determine if a party has acted negligently in a particular case

Question 7

Accident

Answer 7

Some event that did not involve human fault. Like a lighting strike

Question 8

Custom

Answer 8

A practice that has acquired a legal status over time such that failing to follow the practice would result in liability. Like taking a medical history when admitting a new patient

Question 9

Duty to strangers

Answer 9

There is no duty to strangers and no good Samaritan law

Question 10

Duty from Professional Status

Answer 10

Professionals have a higher duty or standard of care simply because they are professionals and have more education and training than a lay person. Medical professionals have a duty to act. The greater the training the greater the care

Question 11

Visitor

Answer 11

When a person is injured on someone’s property, the first task is to classify the person. Is he a trespasser, a licensee, or an invitee? The classification determines the duty

Question 12

Trespassers

Answer 12

A person who is on the property of another without permission

Question 13

Licensee

Answer 13

A person who enters another person’s premise for convenience, curiosity, or entertainment. Also known as a guest. There is a duty to warn of dangerous conditions

Question 14

Invitee

Answer 14

A person who has a business purpose in coming onto the property. Warn of dangerous condition and make premises safe

Question 15

Reasonable Person Standard

Answer 15

The standard used by the court as a yardstick by which it can evaluate the defendants actions in a particular case

Question 16

The Objective Standard

Answer 16

Reasonable person standard can and should take into account the fact that people are fallible and should include consideration for those potential faults.

Question 17

Physical/Mental characteristics

Answer 17

As a general rule,the defendants physical characteristics such as disabilities can be taken into account when evaluating his actions. As a general rule his mental characteristics will not

Question 18

Res ipsa loquitur

Answer 18

The thing speaks for itself; the principle that under certain circumstances such as the type of accident that would not normally occur without some form of negligence, the defendants negligence can be presumed
allows a plaintiff to bring an action even when he cannot prove precisely hat caused his injury

Question 19

Proximate Causation

Answer 19

The facts that show the defendant’s legal responsibility for the plaintiff also known as legal cause

Question 20

Proximate Cause

Answer 20

Involves proof of responsibility. It involves the following:
1. Proof of injury caused by defendant
2. That occurred in a natural unbroken and continuous sequence
3. That was uninterrupted by any intervening cases
4. That produced the plaintiff’s injury
5. Without which the result would not have occurred
At the end of the trial, proximate cause is a jury question

Question 21

Forseeability

Answer 21

The extent to which the defendant should have anticipated that her actions could cause possible injuries to another

Question 22

“But For” test

Answer 22

Under the “but for” test, a defendant’s actions will be the proximate cause when the plaintiff’s injuries would not have occurred, but for the defendant’s negligence

Question 23

“Substantial Factor” test

Answer 23

Under the substantial factor test, a defendant is the proximate cause of the plaintiff’s injuries when he is the predominant, major, or substantial factor in causing those injuries.

Question 24

Intervening cause

Answer 24

Any event that occurs after the initial plaintiff’s injury that contributes to or aggravates those injuries
When two or more defendants combine to injure the plaintiff, each may be considered intervening causes and all will be liable to the plaintiff

Question 25

Superseding cause

Answer 25

Any event that occurs after the initial plaintiff’s injury that replaces one act of negligence with another
Defendant’s A and B are both negligent, but Defendant B’s negligence clearly outweighs Defendant A’s. is a superseding cause and only she will be liable to the plaintiff