Final Exam - Focus Material Flashcards
What are the first things you need to start an action?
A statement of claim
What does a defence respond to a with?
statement of defence, and depending on the circumstances a counterclaim.
How to manage risk?
Risk management is the process of identifying, evaluating, and responding to the possibility of harmful events.
What is protected by Charter Rights?
Fundamental freedoms, democratic rights, mobility rights, equality rights, official languages.
What isn’t protected by Charter Rights?
economic and land
What is a statement of claim?
A document in which the plaintiff outlines the nature of the complaint. It states the facts that the plaintiff intends to rely upon and the remedy that it wants to receive.
What is a statement of defence?
A document in which the defendant sets out their version of the facts and indicates how they intend to deny the claim.
What is a counterclaim?
A claim that the defendant makes against the plaintiff.
Can the plaintiff respond to defences pleadings and possible counterclaim? What with?
Yes, with a reply if they want to dispute anything in the statement of defence.
What is a demand for particulars?
It requires the other side to provide additional information. This is used after receiving basic pleadings.
what is battery? vs what is assault?
assault involves the threat of harm or force while battery involves actually inflicting physical force or harm.
What is the difference between a tort vs. a crime?
A tort occurs when a person breaks a private obligation, a crime occurs if a person breaks a public obligation. A public obligation is owed to society as a whole, rather than to any particular person.
Who would be the plaintiff in a tort?
a private person
What is strict liability?
A type of tort that occurs when a person does something wrong without intending to do so and without acting carelessly. it is enough that the defendant was responsible for the situation.
What are situations of strict liability?
Animals, Ryland v. Fletcher
What is vicarious liability?
occurs when one person is held liable for a tort that was committed by another person.
What will you be more careful with due to vicarious liability?
It acts as a deterrence by encouraging employers to avoid unusually hazardous activities and to hire the best people available.
what is a chattel?
A moveable form of property.
What is an intentional interference to chattel?
an intentional interference with another person’s lawful possession of personal property
What are the three kinds of intentional interference to chattel?
Trespass to chattels, conversion and detinue.
What is detinue?
detinue is the failure to return chattels to the plaintiff.
What are the remedies to detinue?
compensation for loss or return of chattel.
What is trespass to chattels?
occurs when the defendant interferes with plaintiff’s chattels. (Damages, destroys or uses plaintiff’s goods)
What is the remedy to trespass to chattels?
compensation
What is trespass to land?
occurs when the defendant improperly interferes with the plaintiff’s land.
What is the remedy for trespass to land?
compensation for the harm that it caused.
What is the giant carrot theory?
The idea that the landholders rights extend from the centre of the Earth and up through the skies.
When are nominal damages and punitive damages awarded?
Nominal damages if there was no loss, or punitive damages if the defendant’s conduct was shockingly bad.
When would a judge grant an injunction for trespass to land?
A judge will factor the defendant’s motivation, the extent to which monetary damages would adequately protect the plaintiff, and the costs associated with removing the trespass.
What are the business torts?
conspiracy, intimidation, interference with contractual relations and the unlawful means tort.
what is conspiracy tort?
occurs when two or more defendants agree to act together to cause the plaintiff to suffer a financial loss.
what are the two types of conspiracy?
Lawful Act Conspiracy and unlawful act conspiracy
what is lawful act conspiracy?
occurs when two or more people cooperate on a course of conduct that, by itself, is perfectly lawful.
when is lawful act conspiracy liability imposed?
if the judge is persuaded that they came together for the primary purpose of hurting the plaintiff.
what is unlawful act conspiracy?
The defendants conspired to commit an act that was unlawful in itself.
How do you establish unlawful act conspiracy?
The court has to satisfy that the defendants should have know that their actions might hurt the plaintiff.
What is intimidation (there are two kinds)?
Intimidation occurs when the plaintiff suffers a loss as a result of the defendants threat to commit an unlawful act against either the plaintiff or a third party.
What are the two types of intimidation?
Two-party intimidation and three-party intimidation. Two-party occurs when the defendant directly coerces the plaintiff into suffering a loss. Third-party occurs when the defendant coerces a third party into acting in a way that hurts the plaintiff.
What are the three requirements of for the tort of intimidation?
Unlawful act, effective, intention
what are the two elements to prove intimidation?
What is interference of contractual relations?
occurs when the defendant disrupts a contract that exists between the plaintiff and a third party.
What is defamation?
occurs when the defendant makes a false statement that could lead a reasonable person to have a lower opinion of the plaintiff.
What are the elements you need to prove defamation?
Reasonable person (would a reasonable person believe that the defendant was referring to the plaintiff), Living person (the tort of defamation is limited to living persons humans and corporations),
When is a loss remote?
if it would be unfair to hold the defendant responsible for it.
what is the remoteness question that a judge will ask?
Would a reasonable person in the defendant’s position have realised that a particular activity might have caused harm to the plaintiff?
What is mitigation?
occurs when the plaintiff takes steps to minimise the losses that result from the defendant’s tort.
what are the four aspects of the rules on mitigation?
Reasonable steps (did the plaintiff take reasonable steps to mitigate a loss), no duty, extent of loss, cost of mitigation (the plaintiff can recover the costs associated with mitigation.
what is a nuisance?
the defendant causes an unreasonable interference with the plaintiff’s land.
What factors are important in understanding nuisance?
nature of neighbourhood, time of day, intensity and duration, social utility and motivation
What is the basis of donoghue v stevenson?
P. Donoghue visited a cafe with a friend. Her friend bought her a bottle of ginger beer that the D. had manufactured. The bottle had a snail in it. The issue was does the manufacturer owe a duty of care to a person who consumes but did not personally buy a particular product.
Why is the Donoghue v Stevenson verdict important for business people?
- General test it created a test for determining the existence of a duty of care.
- Consumer Claims it establised that a manufacturer can be held liable to any consumer. Manufacturers therefore have to worry to only about the people that purchase their products.
What is the test that Donoghue v Stevenson developed?
Precedent (the judge will first ask whether or not the duty of care question has already been answered for the particular type of case that is being litigated.
New Duty If the duty to care question has not already been answered for the particular type of case, then it will be necessary to ask three question in order to determine whether or not a duty of care should exist
Reasonable Forseeability was it reasonably forseeable that the plaintiff could be injured by the defendant’s carelessness?
Proximity Did the parties share a relationship of sufficient proximity?
Policy If an injury was reasonably foreseeable, and if the parties shared a relationship of sufficient proximity, then a duty of care presumably will exist.
Are special allowances made for novices?
No, but even inexperienced professionals must conform to the standard of a reasonably competent and experienced professional.
When you are a specialist is there a raised professional standard?
Yes.