Negligence Flashcards
Negligence
1) Duty 0 duty of reasonable care owed to foreseeable plaintiffs
2) Breach
3) Causation
4) Damages
Standard of Care - Common Carriers
Highest duty of care consistent with practical operation
Standard of Care - Innkeepers
Ordinary negligence
Standard of Care - Seller of Real Property
Duty to disclose know, concealed, unreasonably dangerous conditions
Standard of Care - Trespassers
Must refrain from willful, wanton, reckless, or intentional misconduct towards trespassers (no spring guns)
Discovered - warn to protect against concealed, dangerous, artificial conditions
Undiscovered - no duty unless owner should reasonably know trespassers are entering land - then same duty owed to licensee
Attractive Nuisance - liable for injuries to trespassing kids of artificial condition poses unreasonable risk of serious bodily harm, kids cant appreciate the harm, burden of removal is slight, and owner fails to exercise reasonable care to protect the kids
Standard of Care - Invitee
Invited to enter property for business purposes for which land is held open
Reasonable care to inspect, discover dangerous conditions, and protect invitees from them (non-delegable)
Standard of Care - Licensee
Enters land of another with permission or privilege (social guest)
Warn of concealed dangers that are known or should be obvious
No duty to inspect
Standard of Care - LL & Ts
LL is liable for injuries occurring in common areas resulting from hidden dangers about which LL fails to warn on premises leased for public use
Tenant is liable for injuries due to condition under the tenants control
Custom
Evidence of custom is generally admissible but not conclusive in establishing proper standard of care
Professionals - expected to show same skill/knowledge/care as ordinary practitioner in the same community; specialist may be held to higher standard
Physicians - held to national standard; failure to comply with informed consent constitutes medical malpractice
Negligence Per Se
Violation of a statute causes the kind of harm the statute serves to prevent against a person the statute served to protect
Defenses: compliance impossible, violation reasonable under circs, statutory vagueness, compliance with fed law/preemption
Res Ipsa Loquitur
P’s harm would not have occurred if D used ordinary care
P not responsible for injury
Injury was under D’s exclusive control
Causation - Joint & Several Liability
May apply if 2+ Defendants are each a factual cause of indivisible harm or Defendants acted with common plan or design
Intervening Events
a cause of P’s harm that occurs after D’s tortious act (everything foreseeable) – D liable
(med mal)
Superseding Events
unforeseeable events that break D’s chain of liability
(crime, act of god, other intentional tort)
Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress
Zone of danger - threat of impact caused emotional distress (physical symptoms)
Bystander - P outsize of ZOD can recover if: 1) closley rleated to person injured by D, 2) present at scene, 3) observed/perceived injury – physical symptoms required
