Duty Risk Analysis Flashcards
What is the duty-risk analysis in Louisiana negligence law?
Louisiana applies the duty-risk analysis to determine negligence, requiring the plaintiff to establish cause-in-fact, duty, scope of duty/risk, breach of duty, and injury.
What does Louisiana Civil Code Article 2315 state?
Article 2315 states that ‘Any act whatever of man that causes damage to another obliges him by whose fault it happened to repair it.’
What are the five elements required to establish negligence in Louisiana?
- Cause-in-fact
- Duty
- Scope of duty/risk
- Breach of duty
- Injury
What is cause-in-fact in negligence cases?
Cause-in-fact asks whether, in the absence of the defendant’s negligence, the plaintiff would have sustained harm.
What tests are used to determine cause-in-fact?
- The ‘but-for’ test: But for the defendant’s action, would the plaintiff have sustained harm?
- The ‘substantial factor’ test: Among multiple concurrent causes, was the defendant’s action a substantial factor in bringing about the harm?
What is duty in Louisiana negligence law?
Duty asks whether the defendant exercised reasonable care, traditionally measured by whether they acted as a reasonably prudent person under similar circumstances.
What are non-traditional duty elements?
- Negligence per se: A non-tort statute designed to protect a class of persons from a class of harm.
- Custom: Established by industry, profession, or trade.
- Res ipsa loquitur: ‘The thing speaks for itself.’
- Contract: A duty imposed by contract.
What does res ipsa loquitur mean?
Res ipsa loquitur means ‘the thing speaks for itself,’ indicating that negligence can be inferred when an accident would not normally occur without negligence.
What is scope of duty/risk in negligence?
Scope of duty/risk asks whether the defendant is responsible for harm to the plaintiff, analyzed using foreseeability, ease of association, and policy factors.
What factors determine the scope of duty/risk?
- Foreseeability: Whether the plaintiff and the risk were foreseeable.
- Ease of association: How easily the defendant’s negligence and the harm can be connected.
- Policy factors (Pitre factors): Capacity to bear loss, historical precedent, moral aspect of defendant’s actions, efficient administration of law, need for compensation, and deterrence of future harm.
What is an intervening cause?
An intervening cause affects the causal chain between the defendant’s action and the plaintiff’s harm. If it breaks the chain, it relieves the defendant of liability.
What is breach of duty?
Breach of duty occurs when the defendant fails to exercise reasonable care, determined by the Learned Hand Formula: B < P × L.
What does the Learned Hand Formula (B < P × L) state?
The burden of precaution (B) must be less than the probability of harm (P) multiplied by the magnitude of the loss (L) for the defendant to be found in breach.
What is required for an injury to be compensable in negligence?
The plaintiff must suffer an actual, compensable, and foreseeable injury due to the defendant’s conduct.
What is Louisiana’s comparative fault system?
Louisiana follows a comparative fault system under Articles 2323 and 2324, requiring the fact-finder to allocate fault to parties and non-party actors.
What are the Watson factors used to allocate fault?
- Whether the defendant’s actions were inadvertent or due to awareness of danger.
- The magnitude of the risk created by the defendant’s conduct.
- The significance of what was sought by the defendant’s conduct.
- The capacity of the actor (whether inferior or superior).
- Extenuating circumstances causing the actor to proceed in haste.
- The relationship between the negligent act and the harm suffered.
