Liability Flashcards
This insurance protects against the possibility of a claim alleging that an insure person or organization is responsible for another party’s injury or damage.
Liability Insurance.
The 3 broad classes of legal wrongs, each addressed by a different branch of the law.
Crime, breach of contract and tort.
A civil wrong, other than breach of contract, for which the law provides monetary damages as a possible remedy. ie: bodily injury or prop dmg.
Tort Law
The failure to use the degree of care that is considered reasonable under a given set of circumstances.
Negligence
What are the 4 elements of negligence?
duty or care, breach of the duty of care, causation and damages.
The duty to take reasonable measures to protect other people from foreseeable harm. ie: Keep walkway to home clear of debris that may be tripped over. “Standard of Care”
Duty of Care
When a defendant did not do what a reasonable person would have done under the same circumstances.
Breach of Duty of Care.
Actions set in motion a chain of events that could have reasonably been anticipated to lead to the damage or injury the plaintiff suffered.
Causation
2 types of Damages
Compensatory and Punitive
2 types of Compensatory Damages
Special and general
Amount defendant is required to pay to reimburse an injured party for harm that was done by the defendant.
Compensatory Damages
Dmgs awarded to an injured party for tangible losses. ie: doctors bills, Rxs, loss of income
Special Damages
Dmgs that involve a money reward designed to compensate an injured person for his/her pain and suffering. Amounts requiring some judgement, subjective.
General Damages
Amounts a defendant is required to pay as punishment for committing a civil wrong. Intended to discourage others from committing similar wrongs. Imposed only when defendant acted in especially outrageous manner, not negligence.
Punitive Damages
3 most common defenses to a negligence suit.
Assumption of risk, contributory negligence and comparative negligence.
Even though the defendant acted negligently, the plaintiff knew there was a substantial possibility that something might go wrong and that he or she could be injured, and the plaintiff voluntarily exposed himself or herself to that danger anyway.
Assumption of Risk
Plaintiff’s actions resulting in the injury are unknowing and involuntary. Just as defendants are held to be under a legal duty to take reasonable measures to protect other people from foreseeable harm, plaintiffs also have a legal duty to take reasonable measures to protect themselves from foreseeable harm. The negligence of the plaintiff combined with the negligence of the defendant may result in the injury or loss to the plaintiff.
Contributory Negligence
the negligence of the plaintiff is compared against the negligence of the defendant. As in the case of efficient proximate causation, juries are asked to assign percentages corresponding to the degree of fault each party bears for producing the injury.
Comparative Negligence
Imposed only in limited situations. The law holds people responsible for injuries or damage even when they have not been careless or negligent. The simple fact that the plaintiff was injured or that a plaintiff’s property was damaged proves that the defendant breached his or her duty under this LIAB.
Strict or Absolute Liability
When one person is legally responsible for the acts of another. ie: For example, parents who have not personally committed any negligent act may still be responsible for torts committed by their minor children.
Vicarious Liability
Has the property owner’s explicit or implicit permission to be on the owner’s property. ie: A door-to-door salesperson.
Licensee
invited onto the premises for the owner’s benefit or for the mutual benefit of the owner and the invitee. A guest at a house party or a driver for a parcel delivery service would also fall into this category.
Invitee
Under this, a party can be held liable for maintaining something on its property that appeals to curious children even though the children are trespassers. ie: a neighborhood child accidentally falls into an unfenced and abandoned swimming pool that is filled with rainwater and toads that the child came to explore.
Attractive Nuisances Doctrine
