Torts

Question 1

Negligence Per Se

Answer 1

(1) If the actor violates a statute that was designed to protect against the type of accident the actor’s conduct causes,
(2) and if the victim is within the class of persons the statute was designed to protect.

However, an actor is negligent when he or she does not exercise reasonable care under ALL the circumstances (Ex. Driving under the speed limit, but still too fast for snowy roads)

Question 2

Liability for additional intervening forces

Answer 2

An injured plaintiff may encounter intervening acts that cause more bodily harm after the original injury is caused. A defendant will be liable for said acts if they are foreseeable. Typically, other negligent acts including medical malpractice are held to be foreseeable.

Question 3

Res Ipsa Loquitor

Answer 3

(1) What had occurred would not usually occur in the absence of negligence
(2) the instrumentality which caused the accident was under exclusive control of the defendant
(3) and the plaintiff was not responsible for what had occurred

Question 4

Comparative Negligence/Joint Several Liability

Answer 4

A pure comparative negligence allocates the amount of negligence that is present to the parties based on the proportion of their own negligence,

Joint and several liability arises if two or more Ds combine to produce a single indivisible injury. Each defendant is liable for the entire harm if his actions were a factor in brining about Ps injury.

Question 5

Medical Doctor Breach

Answer 5

when the evidence shows that he has failed to comply with the standard of care for the relevant specialty and medical community, and his failure causes the patients injury. Most courts compare the doctors conduct to national standards.

Question 6

Strict Product Liability

Answer 6

(1) A strict Liability requires the plaintiff to show the product was defective in manufacture, design, or failure to warn
(2) The defect existed when the product left the defendants control AND
(3) The defect caused the plaintiffs injury when the product was used in a foreseeable way

Question 7

Market Share Liability Doctrine (When causation can’t be proved ordinarily)

Answer 7

it permits the jury to apportion damages based on the market shares of manufactures of a defective product are interchangerbl

Question 7

Market Share Liability Doctrine (When causation can’t be proved ordinarily)

Answer 7

it permits the jury to apportion damages based on the market shares of manufactures of a defective product are interchangeable in relation to their capacity to cause harm.

(Some products contaminated, some not, can’t put a finger on it)

Question 8

Alternative liability doctrine (Plaintiff can’t ordinarily prove causation)

Answer 8

Permits a jury to find two defendants liable when each was negligent and either could have caused the plaintiffs injuries