Tort Class special negligence actions Flashcards
Special Negligence actions
cases involving certain well-defined activities
- property ownership
- employer/employee activities
- motor vehicle use
Occupiers
include individuals who do not own but who do use real estate, including tenants (owner)
Attractive Nuisance
- owner is aware its there and it is an artificial condition (man made)
- attractive to kids
- presence of kids are reasonably foreseeable
- the danger to the children outweighs the cost of making the condition safe
Licensees
persons who have permission to be upon another’s land
Duty of care to Licensees
owes a duty of reasonable care; obligations to correct known dangers, but no required to discover and correct unknown dangers
Invitees
persons invited upon the landowner’s premises
Duty of care to Invitees
owes highest duty of reasonable care; must repair known dangers AND must discover and correct unknown risk
(the invitee would not be on the land to begin with had it not been for the owners invitation)
Implicit invitation
expressed ex. welcome sign
Implied invitation
ex. leaving door open during bussiness hours
Bailment
an act of delivering goods to a bailee for a particular purpose, without transfer of ownership
Bailor
the property owner
Baillee
one who keeps it until the bailor requests the item
Chattel
personal property (real property)
Gratuitous Bailment
a friendly arrangement; a type of bailment in which the bailee receives no compensation
Mutual Benefit Bailment
when there is an exchange of performances between the parties
Duty of care for Gratuitous Bailment
bailee owes only a duty of slight care to safe guard personal peoperty
Duty of care for Mutual Benefit Bailment
- bailee owe a duty of ordinary reasonable care
2. but if only benefits the bailee, then bailee owes a duty of great care
Vicarious Liability
the liability of the principal for the torturous conduct of an agent (employer and employee)
Respondeat Superior
an employer maybe held liable for the negligence of his employees
Coming and going rule
employers not vicariously liable while empoyees are coming or going to work
Frolic and Detour rule
employers not vicariously liable for employees unauthorized activities
Independent Contractors
employees not vicariously liable b/c they engage in their own work (do not control how they do their job)
Emotional Distress
consist of mental anguish cause by tortfeasor
Proof of Emotional Distress
- conduct by tortfeasor
- tortfeasor should have reasonably anticipated would produce
- significant & reasonably foreseeable emotional injury
- when the tortfeasor breached his duty of reasonable care
- and the victim was reasonably a foreseeable plaintiff
Impact Rule
tortfeasor must negligently do something that physically touches the victim to recover emotional distress
Physical Manifestations Rule
in addition to mental suffering, the plaintiff must experience physical symptoms as a result of emotional distress
Zone of Danger Rule
only bystanders who fall within the zone of danger can recover for negligent infliction of emotional distress
- family relationship rule
- sensory perception rule
Sensory perception Rule
bystander perceive the traumatic, negligent event directly through senses
