Negligence Flashcards
Elements of Negligence?
Duty
Breach (of that duty)
Causation
Harm
Duty means . . . (in Schechter’s words)
The obligation to take risk reducing precautions
To whom is the duty to take risk reducing precautions owed?
Foreseeable victims.
In negligence, an unforeseeable victim . . .
Always loses
To determine who is a foreseeable victim, look at facts relating to ___.
Proximity
Describe the rescuer exception to the duty of care?
Rescuers are always owed a duty of care and are always foreseeable.
How much care is owed under the negligence framework? i.e., what is the standard?
Care must be exercised as would be exercised by a REASONABLY PRUDENT PERSON UNDER SIMILAR CIRCUMSTANCES.
The reasonably prudent person standard is a(n) ______ standard, meaning we make no allowances for defendant’s particular ______.
Objective
Capabilities
Will the reasonably prudent person standard adjust for someone who is mentally disabled?
No. Inflexible standard.
The reasonably prudent person standard is an _____ standard.
Inflexible.
What are the only two situations in which the reasonably prudent person standard is adjusted?
D has special or superior skill/knowledge
D has some unique, but RELEVANT physical characteristics
Don is an idiot, but he knows that an intersection near his house is particularly dangerous. Don is in an accident at that intersection sometime last week. The other driver has never visited this area before.
What standard of care for both D and X?
X has a reasonably prudent person
Don has a reasonably prudent person WITH knowledge of this particular intersection. Why? Don has special or superior skill/knowledge, so the traditional standard is adjusted
