Chapter 3
Section 1
• A tort is not a crime against society. It is a
wrong one person commits against another
person.
• Torts protect and enforce rights
• Walk around freely
• Privacy
• Reputation
• Tortfeasor- person committing the wrong
• Three Elements to a Tort:
1. Possession of rights by an innocent party
2. Violation of rights by tortfeasor
3. Resulting injury that hurts the person
whose rights are violated
• Tort:
• Wrong against individual person
• Considered civil or private (not criminal)
• Can be considered both criminal and civil
• Ex: Assault –injures the victim and poses a threat
to the public
• Explain the differences
between Tort law and Criminal
law.
• Punishments? Cases? Violations?
• Purpose of Punishments
• Criminal –protect society from offenders
• Tort –compensate the victim for injuries
• Pay damages (fair amount of money to cover the cost of
injury
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Pain and suffering
Medical bills
Replace/repair damaged property
Lost wages
• Punitive damages –additional fines awarded to victim the
go beyond the damages awarded to right the wrong.
• Further punishes the defendant for outrageous misconduct and to
deter the defendant
• Describe how/why punitive
damages may be awarded.
• Intentional Torts
• Actions that deliberately hurt, embarrass, or
scare people
• Most common: assault, battery, false
imprisonment, defamation, invasion of privacy
and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
• Assault- as soon as you feel threatened
with bodily harm
• Battery- touching the person or something
on the person (backpack, pull a chair out)
• The right to move around freely
• Mall cop must have reasonable grounds to
stop an alleged shoplifter
• Person can be held for a reasonable time and in a
reasonable way
• Lying about another person in a way that
hurts the innocent’s reputation
• Libel- lies in written, printed, or recorded
form (TV, magazines, Web)
• Slander- lies made by verbal or spoken words
• Must prove the lie is made with malice
• Right to be left alone, free from unwanted
publicity, private matters
•Confidentiality (teachers, doctors, lawyers,
nurses, etc)
• Mental or emotional distress
• Must be caused by extreme and outrageous
conduct
• Ex: Falsely and purposefully convincing
someone a family member died
• Most common: trespass, conversion, nuisance,
and disparagement
• Interfering with someone’s real property
• Land
• Things built on land
• Shed
• Attached to land
• House, tree, minerals, oil
• Interfering with someone’s right to personal
property
• Borrowing something and never returning it
• Interfering with enjoyment of property
• Loud music, foul odors, fumes
• Private and Public nuisance
• Lies about objects
• About quality or ownership
• List a used car in excellent condition, but is
actually defective
• Prove you lost money due to the lie
• Negligence is a tort that result when one person carelessly
injures another.
• an accidental tort
• Most common tort
• Requires no actual intent by the tortfeasor
• Negligence is being less careful than a reasonable person
would be
• Automobile accident
• Meltdown of nuclear power plant
• Slipping on ice
• Plaintiff must prove:
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Defendant owed Duty of Care
Defendant breached that duty by being careless
Defendant’s carelessness was the proximate cause of harm
Plaintiff was really hurt by carelessness
• Failing to prove JUST ONE will result in no remedy
• Because every person has certain rights in our society, all of us
have a duty to not violate these rights.
• Case is thrown out if the obligation to use a reasonable
standard of care to prevent injury is not proven
• You breach, or break, your duty to another person
when you fail to use reasonable care in dealing with
that person.
• Reasonable person test
• Must be as careful a reasonable person would be in the
same situation
• Consider:
• How likely a certain act is to cause harm
• How serious the harm would be
• The burden involved in avoiding the harm
• (Legal Cause) Exists when the link between the negligent
conduct and the injury is strong enough to be recognized by the
law
• Without proximate cause, there is not injury
• Foreseeability test
• Was the injury to the victim foreseeable at the time
• Defendant is liable for negligence
• If a victim is not actually harmed, there can be no negligence
• Victim must suffer an injury, have property destroyed, or lose a
lot of money
• Even the biggest mistake might not result in negligence
• Eliminate one of the four elements
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Owed no duty
Careful as a reasonable person
Actions did not cause the victim’s injury
Prove the victim was not really injured in the way the claim
• Contributory Negligence
• Comparative Negligence
• Assumption of Risk
• Defense against negligence whenever the defendant can show
that the victim did something that helped cause their own injuries
• Defense against negligence which is raised when the
carelessness of each party is compared to the carelessness of
the other party.
• Amount of damages is reduced by the percentage of carelessness
• Protects plaintiffs (can collect even if careless)
• 50% rule- plaintiff is allowed to receive some damages if the
plaintiff's negligence is less than the defendant’s
• Plaintiff gets nothing if negligence is over 50%
• Defense against negligence that is raised when the plaintiff
knew of the risk involved and still took the chance of being
injured.
• Extreme sports
• Sign an Assumption of Risk waiver
• Some activities are so dangerous that liability will always follow
any injury that results
• Ultrahazardous activities
• Risk is so great that no amount of care will eliminate the danger
• Using explosives
• Keeping wild animals
• Product Liability: defective products
• Manufacturer and Seller are both liable
• Limits to Product Liability:
• Does not apply if the seller does not usually sell the item
• If the damage is to the product itself
• Survival Statutes
• A lawsuit can continue even if both the plaintiff and the defendant die
• Wrongful Death Statutes
• Allows relatives to bring a lawsuit even if the victim is dead
• 1. Explain Duty of Care and
provide an example.
• 2. Explain strict liability
• Suppose you write a letter to
the editor accusing the town
mayor of corruption. The
accusation turns out to be
false. Can the mayor sue you?
For what? Libel? Slander? Is
there malice?
• Explain how these factor
affect the possible suit.