TORTS Flashcards
Manufacturer Liability: Duty to Warn
A manufacturer owes no duty to warn of obvious dangers.
Even under strict liability theory, where manufacturers may be found liable when failing to warn of a danger makes the product unreasonably dangerous, a manufacturer of a product is generally not liable for failing to warn of a danger that should be obvious to foreseeable users.
Manufacturer Liability: Extending to Rescuers
Where the defendant (manufacturer’s) negligence places one person at physical risk, it is foreseeable that another person might come to the rescue, and himself be injured.
e.g. Car accidents in general tend to invoke rescue attempts. Rescuers are often injured in some way or another during the rescue attempt. Manufacturer (if negligent) may be liable also to the rescuer if his negligence caused the harm that invoked the rescue attempt.
Indigent Defendant (defense)
Being indigent is least likely to help in a successful defense, because a party who is indigent may still be held liable for negligence.
Liability for Subsequent Injuries
One who negligently causes an initial injury to another is also liable for the second (subsequent) injury, if:
it is a normal consequence of the initial injury.
Landowner Privilige
A landowner can be privileged to use even deadly force to prevent an intrusion on his land, only if the owner reasonably believes that the intruder is likely to cause death/serious bodily harm to landowner or 3rd person whom owner is privileged to protect.
A property dispute may escalate to a point where a landowner is privileged to use proportionate force to protect land/self/3rd person.
Hotels: Non-Delegable Duty
A possessor of land open to the public (eg. hotels) owes the public a duty to keep the premises safe, and this duty may not be delegated to an independent contractor.
Defamation
Plaintiff is required to show that defendant knew the statement was false or had serious doubts about its verity.
The SCOTUS has held that the 1st Amendment requires that a public figure, in order to recover for defamation, must prove that the defendant acted with (1) more than mere negligence with regard to the truth or falsity of the defamatory statement (Actual Malice), or (2) reckless disregard as to its verity.
NY Times v. Sullivan
Res Ipsa Loquitur
Means the thing speaks for itself.
Ybarra.
Allows the jury to make an inference of the defendant’s negligence without any direct evidence of negligence when the accident causing plaintiff’s harm is a type of accident that ordinarily happens as a result of the negligence of a class of actors of which the defendant is a relative member.
4 requirements:
(1) No direct evidence of how defendant behaved in connection with the event;
(2) event must be of a kind which ordinarily does not occur except through some negligence;
(3) the instrument that caused the injury must have been in the exclusive control of the defendant; and
(4) the injury must not have been due to plaintiff’s own actions
**Common carriers have heightened duty of care, but it does not quite reach the level of strict liability.
Proximate Cause (Agency)
An agency may be liable if
(1) the agency was negligent (owed a duty and breached duty), and
(2) the negligence was a proximate cause of plaintiff’s injuries.
hypo: a car rental agency does not owe a duty to inspect their vehicles for bombs, if it is not reasonably foreseeable that bombs would be on them-no prior history of that occurring, etc.
*Analyze first whether there is even a duty owed to plaintiff.
- is the plaintiff a foreseeable plaintiff?
- was the plaintiff within the zone of danger?
- Did a duty arise from the circumstances?
Nuisance
Plaintiff only need show an unreasonable interference with the use of his land (not loss of market value). Furthermore, the interference does not have to be constant. An occasional interference is sufficient as long as it is substantial and unreasonable.
Invasion of Privacy: Reporters’ Qualified Privilege
Reporters are privileged to make accurate reports of public meetings, hearings, or events of sufficient public interest.
Elements of Negligence Per Se
(1) Statute provides for criminal penalty
(2) statute formulated for the prevention of the harm that occurred
(3) plaintiff is a member of the class protected under the statute, and
(4) statute is clear as to expected standard of conduct
Landowner Duty to Discovered Trespassers
*Most important exception to the rule of non-liability to trespassers:
*Once the owner has knowledge that a person is trespassing, then he owes him a duty of reasonable care.
Emotional Distress Damages Under Property Loss
The law does not recognize a claim for damages for emotional distress incident to negligently caused property loss.
Under a Failure to Warn Claim: A Question of Law for Unknown Dangerous Substance
Question of law would be whether a defendant who is selling dangerous substances would owe a duty to warn if that dangerousness is unknown at the time.
*The question of law is whether the defendant even owes a duty. If the answer is yes, then it will be a question of fact whether the defendant breached it. If the answer is no, then the plaintiff would not have a claim of action for which a remedy could be provided.
