Tortious Liability in Business (2) Flashcards
Vicarious liability
An employer is held liable for the torts of an employees committed in the course of employment
Defendant in a tort case
Tortfeaser
May be a natural person or a legal person
Burden of proof
Generally falls on the claimant
Standard of proof
Is on the balance of probabilities
Three main forms of intentional torts
- Battery
- Assault
- False imprisonment
Defences to intentional torts
- Consent (explicit or implied permission)
- Inevitable accident
- Defense of the person (self-defence)
- Necessity
- Lawful arrest
- Search
- Seizure
The defendant’s negligence may cause harm in different ways to a claimant:
- Physical harm
- Psychological harm (nervous shock)
- Financial harm
Duty of care and psychological injury: requirements
- Under UK law, in order to bring a civil action in tort for psychological injury it must lead to a RECOGNIZABLE MEDICAL CONDITION such as depression, personality change or post-traumatic stress disorder.
- Injury by way of nervous shock must in itself be REASONABLY FORESEEABLE. The closer the tie between the primary victim and bystander, the more likely it is that nervous shock is reasonably foreseeable.
- BYSTANDER claimant must have perceived the event with their own ‘UNAIDED SENSES, such as an eye- witness; or saw the immediate aftermath.
Res ipsa loquitur
‘the facts speak for themselves’
This rule of evidence affects the burden of proof
‘the facts speak for themselves’
Res ipsa loquitur
Privacy laws
UK Breach of confidence
Here the claimant does not claim that the information is untrue (as in defamation).
But that there was a wrongful disclosure of private, confidential information, either of a personal nature or concerning business, e.g. disclosing trade secrets or business plans.
