Negligence

Question 1

General SOC

Answer 1

Ordinary, prudent, reasonable person (RPP) (no creating unreasonable risks of injury to others); owed to all foreseeable plaintiffs (those in the zone of danger); same physical characteristics as D

Question 2

Professional SOC

Answer 2

Professional or specially skilled person is required to possess and exercise the knowledge and skill of a member of the profession in good standing

Question 3

Child SOC (kids >5 y.o)

Answer 3

Child is required to conform to the SOC of a child of like age, education, intelligence, and experience (subjective)
Excpetion: Kid engaged in adult activities

Question 4

Common Carrier / Innkeeper SOC

Answer 4

Must exercise high degree of care toward passengers and guests; liable for only slight negligence

Question 5

Emergency SOC

Answer 5

RPP under same circumstances

Question 6

Premises Liability: Unreasonably Dangerous conditions

Answer 6

L is liable for damage caused by unreasonably dangerous ARTIFICIAL conditions abutting adjacent land to people off the land

Question 7

Premises Liability: TPs

Answer 7

Undiscovered TP: No duty

Discovered/Anticipated: must warn or make safe known artifical conditions that involve risk of srs bodily harm

Question 8

Premises Liability: Attractive Nuisance Doctrine

Answer 8

L must exercise ordinary care to avoid a reasonably foreseeable risk of harm to kids caused by artifical conditions on property; P must show (1) dangerous condition which owner should be aware of; (2) owner should know kids frequent the prop; (3) condition is dangerous because of kid’s inability to appreciate the risk; (4) expense of emedy is slight compared to the risk

Question 9

Premises Liability: Licensees / Social Guests

Answer 9

Duty to warn of or make safe a dangerous condition known to L that creates an unreasonable risk of harm; no duty to inspect or repair

Question 10

Premises Liability: Invitees (public places / business of L)

Answer 10

duty to warn of or make safe a dangerous condition known to L that creates unreasonable risk of harm; duty to inspect and make safe (can give warnings to suffice)

Question 11

Premises Liability: Lessor

Answer 11

Lessor must give warning to lessee of existing defects lessor should know about and which lessee probs wont discover; Tenant is still liable to invitees and licensees

Question 12

Negligence Per Se

Answer 12

P must be within class intended to be protected and harm must be within type of harm intended to be prevented; establishes conclusive presumption of duty and breach of duty (fall back on RPP if you cant establish negligence per se)

Question 13

NIED: general / near miss

Answer 13

P must be within zone of danger and must suffer PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS of distress

Question 14

NIED: bystander (seeing someone get injured)

Answer 14

P must be closely related to injured person, present at the scene of injury, and personally perceive or observe the event

Question 15

Affirmative Duty to Act

Answer 15

(1) Once you start acting, you can’t be negligent; (2) if you created the peril, you have a duty; (3) common carriers and innkeepers must aid

Question 16

Evidence of breach

Answer 16

(1) Custom / usage; (2) violation of statute; (3) RIL

Question 17

Res Ipsa Loquitur (RIL)

Answer 17

RIL requires P to show that (1) accident causing injury is the type that wouldnt normally occur without negligence; (2) the negligence is normally attributable to someone in D’s position (remember multiple D’s issue) (3) P wasn’t negligent
Effect of RIL: NO directed verdict for D!

Question 18

Factual Causation: Concurrent cases

Answer 18

When several acts combine to cause the injury, but none of the acts standing alone would have been sufficient, apply but for (they’re both causes)

Question 19

Factual Causation: Joint Causes

Answer 19

When several causes commingle and bring about an injury and any one of them would have been sufficient, do not apply but for; apply the substantial factor test

Question 20

Factual Causation: Alternative Causes

Answer 20

When several Ds are negligent and P doesnt know which one caused her injury, burden shifts to D to show which one was negligent (Summers v. Tice)

Question 21

Proximate Cause

Answer 21

D is liable for all harmful results that are the normal incidents of and within the increased risk caused by his acts (foreseeability)

Question 22

Intervening Forces

Answer 22

If they’re foreseeable, D is still liable (rescuer’s negligence, med mal, efforts to protect person or property, reactions, subsequent disease or accident)
If they’re unforeseeable, D is not liable unless D increased the risk that the forces would cause harm to the P or the result itself is unforeseeable (negligence of 3P, crimes / ITS of 3Ps, acts of god

Question 23

Damages

Answer 23

Nominal not available–need actual harm or injury (personal injury including noneconomic, ED, property dams, punitive dams for willful conduct); P has duty to mitigate dams

Question 24

Defenses

Answer 24

Contributory negligence, failure to mitigate dams, AOTR

Question 25

Comparative Negligence

Answer 25

Trier of fact weighs P’s negligence against D’s and reduces P’s damages accordinlgly (partial = P cannot recover if his negligence was more serious than that of the D; pure = P can recover)