Rule Statements Flashcards
There are two types of relevance…
logical relevance and legal relevance. Evidence is logically relevant if it tends to make a fact of consequence more or less likely than it would be without the evidence. Evidence is legally relevant if its probative value is not substantially outweighed by some kind of danger.
Logical relevance: two elements to discuss
1) what is the fact of consequence and 2) what is the evidence being offered for this fact
Legal relevance: three steps
1) describe the potential prejudice, 2) describe the probative value, and 3) balance
Negligence opening
A claim for negligence requires that the plaintiff to establish four elements: duty, breach, causation, and damages. Courts most often compare the defendant to a reasonable person under the circumstances to determine if they breached their duty of care to the plaintiff.
Present Sense Impression rule statement
A statement describing an event or condition made while the declarant perceived it, or immediately after, is admissible.
State of Mind rule statement
A statement of the declarant’s then existing state of mind, emotion, sensation, or physical condition is admissible.
Battery rule statements.
Battery is the intentional infliction of a harmful or offensive bodily contact. Intent is acting with either purpose to cause a harmful result, or with the knowledge that a harmful result is substantially certain to be produced. Courts have ruled that items “intimately associated” with a person’s body are included for the bodily contact analysis.
Assault rule statements (remember what is not enough)
Assault is the intentional infliction of the reasonable apprehension of an imminent harmful or offensive bodily contact. Mere words are not enough. Menacing words need to be accompanied by some sort of physical action as well.
Defamation rule statements.
Defamation is a legal claim involving injury to someone’s reputation on the basis of a false statement. The defamatory statement might be written – which is called “libel”, or spoken – which is called “slander”. The elements of a defamation claim are 1) a false statement of fact; 2) that is about the plaintiff; 3) publication or communication of the statement to a third party; 4) fault amounting to at least negligence; 5)– damages.
Defamation- what happens when a statement is framed as an opinion?
If someone makes a statement of opinion that gives a listener or a reader a reasonable impression that there is a factual basis for that opinion, that statement is actionable and may be defamatory. However, a statement of pure opinion is not actionable.
Defamation element–communication or publication of the statement to a third party
At least one other person must hear or read the statement about the plaintiff in order for it to be actionable. Now, you don’t need a large audience. The fact that at least one person other than the speaker or the plaintiff has heard or read the statement is enough to satisfy the “publication” element.
Level of fault for defamation (element 4)
The level of fault required to succeed on defamation claim depends on whether the plaintiff is a private figure or a public figure. When a private figure sues for defamation, they must show that the speaker acted negligently in making the defamatory statement (i.e. speaker did not make reasonable efforts to determine whether the statement at issue was true prior to communicating that statement to a third party). A higher standard for fault applies in defamation claims brought by “public figures”, who are individuals that have achieved notoriety or fame. When a public figure sues for defamation, they must establish that the speaker acted with “actual malice”. Actual malice is knowledge that the statement is false, or reckless disregard for the truth or falsity of the statement.
Harm element- slander per se
Where a statement involves any one of the following categories, injury to the plaintiff’s reputation is presumed and the “damage” element of a defamation claim will be satisfied: 1 – a criminal offense; 2– a loathsome disease; 3 – inappropriate conduct related to the plaintiff’s business, trade, profession, or public office; or 4 – serious sexual misconduct.
Private Nuisance rule statements (include standard)
A private nuisance is 1) a substantial and unreasonable interference with 2) a person’s use or enjoyment of their property. Nuisance is based on a reasonable person standard. The nuisance must be annoying, inconvenient, or offensive to a reasonable person.
Public Nuisance rule statements
Public Nuisance is 1) an unreasonable interference; with 2) the health, safety, or property rights of 3) a considerable number of people or the entire community or neighborhood where 4) the plaintiffs can show they have suffered actual damages.
Remedies for nuisance
A successful plaintiff in a nuisance action could be awarded either money damages or an injunction.
Nuisance Defenses
Coming to the nuisance; statutory compliance
Assumption of Risk
Assumption of risk is a defense to negligence. It applies if the plaintiff 1) voluntarily assumed 2) a known risk. The assumption can be either (a) express, by agreement; or (b) implied, where an average person would appreciate the risks involved.
Elements of Standing rule statements
A plaintiff must meet three requirements to have standing.
- plaintiff must suffer an injury in fact
- defendant must have caused the injury
- court must be able to address the problem.
These requirements are known as injury in fact, causation, and redress-ability.
Injury in fact means that the plaintiff must have suffered an actual harm or the harm is imminent. It must be concrete and particularized and cannot be hypothetical.
Second rule statements for standing- causation
The second question a court asks about standing is whether the injury is fairly traceable to the defendant. There should be a clear link between what the defendant allegedly did and the harm to the plaintiff.
Third rule statement for standing- redress
The third question is whether the court can redress the injury. Put differently, if the court rules in favor of the plaintiff, will anything change? Sometimes there are cases where the federal courts cannot offer the relief requested.
Taxpayer standing
A good rule of thumb is that there is no taxpayer standing to challenge a government program. A plaintiff must show she is uniquely impacted by a statute beyond her taxes going to that program.
Third party standing
Plaintiff generally can’t bring a lawsuit on behalf of someone else. If a person is harmed but faces substantial barriers in asserting his own interests, then a third party may sometimes raise the issue.
Organizational standing rule statements
An organization can sue on its own behalf if it has been injured. It can also sue on behalf of its members who have been injured. There are three requirements for an organization to sue on behalf of its members.
- a member must have standing to sue in its own right.
- the interest the organization is protecting must be germane to its purpose
- the claim asserted or the relief requested cannot require the individual member to participate.