Negligence

Question 1

Negligence

Answer 1

Negligence is conduct, through an act or omission, that fails to conform to a particular standard of care necessary to avoid unreasonable risks of harm to others

Question 2

Duty

Answer 2

Duty is a legal obligation to conform one’s conduct to a standard of care necessary to avoid creating unreasonable risk of harm to others

Question 3

Breach

Answer 3

Breach is conduct, by action or omission, that falls below the relevant standard of care necessary to avoid unreasonable risk of harm

Question 4

Cause in Fact

Answer 4

Cause in fact exists if but for the defendant’s negligent conduct the harm/injury to the plaintiff would not have occurred

Question 5

Proximate Cause (Scope of Liability)

Answer 5

Proximate cause (scope of liability) exists if there is a sufficiently close relationship between the defendant’s negligent conduct and the plaintiff’s injury or harm

Question 6

Negligence Damages

Answer 6

Negligence Damages result from a loss in property or injury

Question 7

Two Views on Duty

Answer 7

 Cardozo: a duty is owed to the reasonably foreseeable plaintiff; must be close enough in time and space to owe a duty
 Andrews: a duty to one is a duty to all; there is a duty to society as a whole; a duty to everyone

Question 8

Affirmative Duties

Answer 8

 Nonfeasance- failure to act

 Misfeasance- wrongful act

Question 9

Good Samaritan Doctrine

Answer 9

there is no legal duty to protect/rescue a stranger from injury where the defendant was in no way responsible for creating the dangerous situation in the first place

Question 10

Gratuitous Undertakings

Answer 10

when one owes no duty to act affirmatively to another but gratuitously chooses to, he assumes a duty to exercise reasonable care in performing his undertaking

Question 11

Special Relationships Duty

Answer 11

a duty arises to prevent physical harm when there is a special relationship between the actor and the third person which imposes a duty to control, or a special relationship between the actor and the other which imposes a duty to protect

Question 12

Strict Liability

Answer 12

One who carries out an abnormally dangerous activity is subject to liability for harm to the person, land, or chattels resulting from the activity, although he has exercised the utmost care to prevent the harm. This strict liability is limited to the kind of harm which makes the activity abnormally dangerous.

Question 13

Vicarious Liability

Answer 13

A master is liable for the torts committed by his servants when the tort is committed within the scope of the employment, serving a purpose of the master.