Tort Law Flashcards
What is a Tort?
A civil wrong, other than a breach of contract, committed against a person or property for which a court provides a remedy in the form of an action for damages.
What are the three basic categories of tort law?
Negligence torts, intentional torts, strict liability.
What is negligence?
The unintentional commission or omission of an act that a reasonably prudent person would or would not do under given circumstances.
What are the three basic forms of negligence?
Malfeasance, Misfeasance, Nonfeasance.
What is Malfeasance?
Performance of an unlawful or improper act.
What is Misfeasance?
Improper performance of an act, resulting in injury to another.
What is Nonfeasence?
Failure to act when there is a duty to act as a reasonably prudent person would in similar circumstances.
What are the degrees of negligence?
Ordinary and Gross.
What is Ordinary Negligence?
Failure to do, under the circumstances, what a reasonably prudent person would or would not do.
What is Gross Negligence?
Intentional or wanton omission of care that would be proper to provide, or the doing of that which would be improper to do.
What are the elements of negligence?
Duty to care, breach of duty, injury, causation.
What is Duty to care?
There must be an obligation to conform to a recognized standard of care.
What is Breach of duty?
There must be a deviation from the recognized standard of care. There must be a failure to adhere to an obligation.
What is Injury?
Actual damages must be established. If there are no injuries, no monetary damages are due to the plaintiff(s).
What is Causation?
The departure from the standard of care must be the cause of the plaintiff’s injury. The injury must be foreseeable.
