Tort Law: Understanding Wrongs, Compensation, and Damages - Prof. Richard E. Mattar, Study notes of Business and Labour Law

Download Tort Law: Understanding Wrongs, Compensation, and Damages - Prof. Richard E. Mattar and more Study notes Business and Labour Law in PDF only on Docsity! Exam #2 Notes Chapter Twelve o Torts – a civil wrong not arising from a breach of contract. A breach of a legal duty that proximately causes harm or injury to another. o Any time that one party’s allegedly wrongful conduct causes injury to another, an action may arise under the law of torts o Through tort law, society compensates those who have suffered injuries as a result of the wrongful conduct of others. o Intentional Torts – arise from intentional acts o Unintentional Torts –result from carelessness The Basis of Tort Law o Wrongs and compensation o One person/group brings a lawsuit against another person or group to obtain compensation (monetary damages) or other relief for the harm suffered The Purpose of Tort Law o To provide remedies for the invasion of various protected interests o Interest in personal physical safety (physical injury, interfere with physical security, freedom of movement) o Interest in protecting property (destruction or damage to property) o Interest in protecting certain intangible interests (personal privacy, family relations, reputation, dignity) Damages Available in Tort Actions o Compensatory Damages – intended to compensate or reimburse a plaintiff for actual losses (make the plaintiff whole and put her/him in the same position that she/he would have been had the tort not occurred) o Awards broken down into special damages (compensate the plaintiff for quantifiable monetary losses and loss of irreplaceable items and the costs of repairing or replacing damaged property) general damages (compensate individuals for the nonmonetary aspect of the harm suffered such as pain and suffering) o Punitive Damages – awarded to punish the wrongdoer and deter others from similar wrongdoing; appropriate only when the defendant’s conduct was particularly egregious or reprehensible o Usually awarded only in intentional tort actions and not negligence lawsuits; may be awarded in cases involving gross negligence – an intentional failure to perform a manifest duty in reckless disregard of the consequences of such a failure for the life or property of another o Restraint in granting punitive damages to plaintiffs because they are subject to the limitations imposed by the due process clause o State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co v. Campbell – to the extend an award of punitive damages is grossly excessive, if furthers no legitimate purpose and violates due process requirements Intentional Torts against Persons o Intentional Tort – requires intent o Tortfeasor – the one committing the tort must intend to commit an act, the consequences of which interfere with the personal or business interests of another in a way not permitted by law o Intent – the actor intended the consequences of his/her act or knew with substantial certainty that specific consequences would result from the act o Normal consequences of their actions Assault and Battery o Assault – any intentional, unexcused act that creates in another person a reasonable apprehension of immediate harmful or offensive conduct o Battery – the completion of the act that caused the apprehension if it result in harm to the plaintiff; the unexcused and harmful or offensive physical contact intentionally performed o Right to personal security and safety o Physical injury need not occur o Reasonable Person Standard o Compensation – there is no need to establish that the defendant acted out of malice; may be compensated for the emotional harm or loss of reputation resulting from a battery, as well as for physical harm o Defenses to Assault and Battery o Consent o Self Defense – real or apparent danger, reasonably necessary force o Defense of Others o Defense of Property Abusive or Frivolous Litigation o People have a right not to be sued without a legally just and proper reason Business Torts o Business Torts – wrongful interferences with the business rights of other o Interference with a Contractual Relationship and Interference with a Business Relationship Wrongful Interference with a Contractual Relationship o Three elements o A valid, enforceable contract must exist between two parties o A third party must know that this contract exists o This third party must intentionally induce a party to the contract to breach the contract Wrongful Interference with a Business Relationship o Predatory Behavior – actions undertaken with the intention of unlawfully driving competitors completely out of the market o Businesses are prohibited from unreasonably interfering with another’s business in their attempts to gain a greater share of the market Defenses to Wrongful Interference o If the interference was justified or permissible Intentional Torts against Property o Wrongful actions that interfere with individuals’ legally recognized rights with regards to their land or personal property o Real Property – land and things permanently attached to the land o Personal Property – all other items Trespass to Land o Occurs any time a person without permission enters onto , above, or below the surface of land that is owned by another; causes anything to enter onto the land; or remains on the land or permits anything to remain on it o Damage not necessary o Trespass Criteria, Rights, and Duties – must establish a person as a trespasser, trespassers are liable for damages caused to the property; attractive nuisance; reasonable force o Defenses against Trespass to Land – warranted trespass, license to come onto the land Trespass to Personal Property o Trespass to Personal Property – any individual, without consent, takes or harms the personal property of another or otherwise interferes with the lawful owner’s possession and enjoyment of personal property o Trespass to Chattels or Trespass to Personalty o Harm – destruction of property and anything that diminishes its value, condition, or quality o Defense – was the trespass warranted? Conversion o Conversion – when a person wrongfully possess or uses the personal property of another as if the property belonged to her/him o Conversion requires a more serious interference with the personal property that trespass, in terms of duration and extensiveness of use o Good intentions are not a defense Disparagement of Property o Disparagement of Property – economically injurious falsehoods are made about another’s product or property rather than about another’s reputation o Disparagement of Property = Slander of Quality or Slander of Title o Slander of Quality (or Trade Libel) – publishing false information about another’s product, alleging it is not what its seller claims o Slander of Title – a publication falsely denies or casts doubt on another’s legal ownership of property, resulting in financial loss to the property’s owner Negligence o Contrast to intentional torts! o Negligence – the tortfeasor neither wishes to bring about the consequences of the act nor believes that they will occur, the actor’s conduct merely creates a risk of such consequences o Risk must be foreseeable o The plaintiff must prove o That the defendant owed a duty of care to the plaintiff o That the defendant breached the duty o That the plaintiff suffered a legally recognizable injury o That the defendant’s breach caused the plaintiff’s injury The Duty of Care and Its Breach o Duty of Care – if we are to live in society with other people, some actions can be tolerated and some cannot, and some actions are reasonable and some are not – people are free to act as they please so long as their actions do not infringe on the interests of others o The Reasonable Persons Standard – how would a reasonable person have acted in the same circumstances? Judgment of how people should act. o Duty of care determined on a case-by-case basis Duty of Landowners o Duty to warn business invitees of risks o Obvious risks provide an exception Duty of professionals No duty to rescue The Injury Requirement and Damages o To claim damages a plaintiff must suffer legally recognizable injuries o Loss, harm, wrong, or invasion of a protected interest o Compensatory damages, punitive damages Causation o Causation in Fact and Proximate Cause o Is there causation in fact? Causation in fact – “but for” test o Was the act the proximate, or legal, cause of the injury? Proximate Cause – legal cause, exists when the connection between an act and an injury is strong enough to justify imposing liability o Foreseeability – foresseablitly of a risk or injury o Palsgraf case – Does the defendant’s duty of care extend only to those who may be injured as a result of a foreseeable risk, or does it extend also to persons whose injuries could not reasonably be foreseen?