Torts Flashcards
Harms to Personal Property and Land: Nuisance
A private nuisance is a thing or activity that substantially and unreasonably interferes with another individuals use or enjoyment of his land. A substantial interference is one that would be offensive, inconvenient, or annoying to a normal reasonable person in the community.
A thick-skinned plaintiff who is not offended, inconvenienced, or annoyed is entitled to recover if an average reasonable person would be, although the amount of damages would be affected.
Products Liability: Strict Products Liability
A commercial supplier of a defective product can be held strictly liable for personal or property injury caused by the product.
A commercial supplier may be liable for its failure to warn but its duty to warn is limited to risks that are known or should have been known (foreseeable risks). A seller may be held strictly liable for selling defective goods even if the seller was not responsible for the defect in any way, or despite exercising due care with respect to the product.
Negligence: Breach of Duty
Under the traditional standard for res ipsa loquitur, the P must prove that the accident was caused by an agent or instrumentality with the exclusive control of the D.
Res ipsa loquitur generally applies to medical malpractice cases.
Defamation, Invasion of Privacy, and Business Torts: Invasion of Privacy
An action for the invasion of privacy based on the public disclosure of private facts is grounded in the disclosure of truthful information about the P that is not of legitimate concern to the public and that a reasonable person would find highly offensive.
Negligence: Defenses to Negligence
In contributory negligence jurisdictions, a P can mitigate his own negligence by proving that the D had the last clear chance to avoid injuring the P but failed to do so.
Negligence: Vicarious Liability
Vicarious liability is a form of strict liability in which one person is liable for the tortious actions of another. Under the theory of respondeat superior, an employer is liable for the tortious conduct of an employee that is within the scope of employment.
