Defenses: Proximate Cause Flashcards
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When the plaintiff’s own negligence is the immediate and proximate cause of his own injury, he cannot recover damages, but if his negligence is only contributory, the immediate and proximate cause being the defendant’s lack of due care, the plaintiff may recover damages but the courts shall mitigate the damages to be awarded.
Test for Whether Proximate or Contributory Negligence
Distinction must be made between the accident and the injury, between the event itself, without which there could have been no accident, and those acts of the victim not entering into it, independent of it , but contributing to his own proper hurt.
Where he contributes to the principal occurrence, as one of its determining factors, he cannot recover. Where in conjunction with the occurrence, he contributes only to his own injury, he may recover the amount that the defendant responsible for the event should pay for such injury, less a sum deemed suitable equivalent for his own imprudence.
Torpedo and Turntable Doctrines
Infant of tender years, who from mere idle curiosity or for purposes of amusement enters upon the railroad company premises, at a place where the railroad company knew or had good reason to know that children would likely come, and there found explosives exposed by the railroad company’s employees, owner of the premises liable.
Standard of care in relation to child
While it is a general rule in regard to an adult that to entitle him to recover damages for an injury resulting from the fault or negligence of another, he must himself have been free from fault, not same with infant of tender years.
Care and caution required of a child is according to his maturity and capacity only, and this is to be determined in each case by the circumstances of the case .
Doctrine of Attractive Nuisance
Owners of premises whereon things attractive to children are exposed, or upon which the public are expressly or impliedly permitted to enter or upon which the owner knows or ought to know children are likely to roam about for pasttime and in play must calculate upon this and take precautions accordingly.
Age at which minor can be said to have ability
The law fixes no arbitrary age at which a minor can be said to have the necessary capacity to understand and appreciate the nature and consequences of his own acts, so as to make it negligence on his part to fail to exercise due care and precaution in the commission of such acts; and indeed it would be impracticable and perhaps impossible so to do, for in the very nature of things the question of negligence necessarily depends on the ability of the minor to understand the character of his own acts and their consequences; and the age at which a minor can be said to have such ability will necessarily depends of his own acts and their consequences; and at the age at which a minor can be said to have such ability will necessarily vary in accordance with the varying nature of the infinite variety of acts which may be done by him.
Degree of diligence of professionals / skilled
When a person holds himself out as being competent to do things requiring professional skill, he will be held liable for negligence if he fails to exhibit care and skill of one ordinarily skilled in the particular work which he attempts to do.
