Defenses to Negligence

Question 1

Contributory Negligence

Answer 1

FLORIDA HAS ABOLISHED CONTRIBUTORY NEGLIGENCE.

Question 2

Modified Comparative Fault

Answer 2

FLORIDA HAS ABOLISHED CONTRIBUTORY NEGLIGENCE, AND INSTEAD FOLLOWS A MODIFIED COMPARATIVE FAULT STANDARD.

Under this standard, if the plaintiff is more than 50% liable, plaintiff cannot be recover.

If plaintiff 50% or les, then recovery is reduced by plaintiff’s % of liability

Question 3

Fabre Defendant

Answer 3

aka ghost defendant

basically defendant is trying to blame a 3rd party aka the ghost defendant

can occur in 2 ways:
1. could not serve the defendant so defendant isn’t present in court
2. settled with one of the defendants and the other defendants want to blame the defendant you settled with.

Question 4

Failure to Wear a Seat Belt

Answer 4

Defendant cannot blame plaintiff for failure to wear a seatbelt unless the DEFENDANT can prove:
1. seatbelt was available;
2. seatbelt was operational; and
3. not wearing seatbelt substantially contributed to plaintiff’s injury

Question 5

Assumption of the Risk

Answer 5

FLORIDA HAS ABOLISHED ASSUMPTION OF THE RISK AND ONLY RECOGNIZES EXPRESS ASSUMPTION OF THE RISK.

Question 6

Intervening Cause

Answer 6

Same as MBE