Special Duties of Care (Negligence)

Question 1

what general standard of care are children held to?

Answer 1

standard of a child of like age, intelligence, and experience
**NOTE = subjective test

Question 2

true or false: generally, children under 5 can be held negligent.

Answer 2

FALSE (generally too young to have a duty of care)

Question 3

when may a child be required to conform to an adult standard of care?

Answer 3

when they’re engaged in potentially dangerous adult activities (ie– operating a motor vehicle)

Question 4

what standard of care are children ages 5-17 held to?

Answer 4

that of a child of similar age, experience, intelligence acting under similar circumstances
**NOTE = subjective, pro-defendant test

Question 5

what general standard of care are professionals held to?

Answer 5

professional is required to possess the knowledge and skill of an average member of the profession/occupation in good standing that provides similar services
**NOTE = NOT a hypothetical, reasonable person standard – look at literal, real world, average person in good standing in that specific job

Question 6

for doctors, what standard do courts use to evaluate their conduct?

Answer 6

a national standard of care (not local)

Question 7

what fact does a land possessor’s premises liability for dangerous conditions depend on?

Answer 7

the plaintiff’s status (ie – unknown trespasser, known trespasser, licensee, or invitee)

Question 8

what standard of care applies to non-dangerous, normal activities conducted on a land possessor’s property?

Answer 8

the general RPP standard

Question 9

what duty does a land possessor owe to an unknown trespasser?

Answer 9

no duty at all (they are unforeseeable victims)

Question 10

what duty does a land possessor owe to a discovered or anticipated trespasser? (2 options; 4 elements for conditions)

Answer 10

the land possessor must warn of OR make safe any conditions that are:
1) artificial
2) highly dangerous
3) concealed, and
4) known to the land possessor in advance
**TLDR = known manmade death traps

Question 11

who is considered an “anticipated” trespasser?

Answer 11

someone who is not literally known to be on the land but can be reasonably expected (ie – pattern of past trespassing)

Question 12

what is an “artificial” condition?

Answer 12

a condition which is built by people; not naturally occurring

Question 13

what is a “highly dangerous” condition?

Answer 13

one that involves risk of death or serious bodily harm

Question 14

who is a “licensee”?

Answer 14

one who enters onto the land with the possessor’s permission for their OWN purpose or business – NOT for the possessor’s benefit
**NOTE: social guests are licensees

Question 15

what duty does a land possessor owe a licensee? (2 options, 2 elements for conditions)

Answer 15

land possessor has a duty to warn of or make safe hazardous conditions that are:
1) concealed, and
2) known to the land possessor in advance
**TLDR = all known traps

Question 16

true or false: land possessors owe licensees a duty as to BOTH natural and artificial conditions.

Answer 16

TRUE

Question 17

true or false: land possessors owe licensees a duty ONLY to highly dangerous conditions.

Answer 17

FALSE (possessors owe licensees duty as to BOTH highly dangerous conditions AND moderately dangerous conditions)

Question 18

what is a land possessor required to do with respect to “active operations” on their property?

Answer 18

required to exercise reasonable care in the conduct of active operations on the property

Question 19

true or false: a land possessor has a duty to inspect/repair active operations on the property.

Answer 19

FALSE (NO duty to inspect/repair)

Question 20

who are “invitees”?

Answer 20

people who enter onto the land in response to an invitation by the possessor of land for a purpose connected with either:
- the business of the land possessor, or
- as members of the public accessing land that is held open to the public (ie – church, store, airport)

Question 21

when will an invitee lose their invitee status?

Answer 21

when they exceed the scope of the invitation

Question 22

what duty does a land possessor owe to invitees? (2 elements for conditions)

Answer 22

duty to invitees regarding hazardous conditions that are:
1) concealed, and
2) either were known to the possessor in advance OR could have been discovered by a reasonable (but not perfect) inspection

Question 23

how can a land possessor cure their premises liability?

Answer 23

by either
1) eliminating the hazardous condition, or
2) warning about the condition

Question 24

in what ways can a land possessor sufficiently eliminate a hazardous condition? (3 Rs)

Answer 24

1) repair
2) replace
3) remove

Question 25

what is the doctrine of attractive nuisance?

Answer 25

a landowner has a duty to exercise ordinary care to avoid a reasonably foreseeable risk of harm to children caused by dangerous, artificial conditions on their property
**TLDR = owe RPP duty to foreseeable kids

Question 26

to prove the attractive nuisance doctrine’s applicability, the plaintiff must show what? (4)

Answer 26

1) the existence of a dangerous condition that the owner is/should be aware of
2) owner knows/should know that children might trespass on land
3) condition is likely to cause injury
4) the expense of remedying the situation is slight compared to the magnitude of the risk

Question 27

what must a landowner do when it is highly UNLIKELY that children will trespass?

Answer 27

NOTHING
**RATIONALE = not acting would be reasonable in this situation because there is no reasonably foreseeable risk

Question 28

what is an “attractive nuisance”?

Answer 28

dangerous condition on a landowner’s property that draws children in (should expect kids to trespass)

Question 29

true or false: a child must be “attracted” to the dangerous condition on the property for a landowner to be liable for attractive nuisance.

Answer 29

FALSE

Question 30

true or false: a child’s “attraction” to a dangerous condition on the landowner’s property alone is enought to hold them liable.

Answer 30

FALSE (need all 4 elements for the doctrine to apply)

Question 31

when may a statutory standard of care replace the more general common law duty of care?

Answer 31

may replace general duty if
1) the plaintiff is within the class of persons the law was designed to protect, and
2) the statute was designed to prevent the class of harm the plaintiff suffered

Question 32

what is the consequence of an unexcused violation of a statutory standard of care? (2 rqmts)

Answer 32

this establishes a prima facie showing of the first two requirements of negligence (duty and breach)
**AKA = negligence per se

Question 33

when is non compliance/violation of a statutory standard of care excused? (2 scenarios)

Answer 33

1) if compliance would cause more danger than the violation, or
2) if compliance would be beyond the defendant’s control (ie – lose consciousness while driving)

Question 34

true or false: compliance with a statutory standard of care will establish due care.

Answer 34

FALSE (not conclusive)

Question 35

true or false: generally, there is no duty to act/rescue.

Answer 35

true

Question 36

what kind of relationship between parties will create a duty to act?

Answer 36

special relationships (usually one party taking care of the other – parent/child, etc)

Question 37

what duty do common carriers, shopkeepers, others that gather public for proft have to their patrons?

Answer 37

owe them a duty of reasonable care to aid or assist them

Question 38

what duty do places of public accommodation have?

Answer 38

have a duty to prevent injury to guests or third persons

Question 39

true or false: one has a duty to assist someone they have negligently or innocently placed in peril

Answer 39

TRUE

Question 40

true or false: if you’ve placed someone in peril, you have a duty to rescue them.

Answer 40

FALSE (only have a duty to assist/act reasonably under the circumstances – no need to put yourself in danger)

Question 41

true or false: one may assume a duty to act by undertaking an action.

Answer 41

TRUE (must act as a reasonably prudent person in doing so)

Question 42

what is a good samaritan law?

Answer 42

law that exempts doctors, nurses, etc from liability for ordinary but not gross, negligence