Understanding Torts: A Civil Wrong and the Concept of Fault, Summaries of Law

Download Understanding Torts: A Civil Wrong and the Concept of Fault and more Summaries Law in PDF only on Docsity! Torts 1012 What is a tort? A civil wrong for which the law provides a remedy, usually in the form of an action for damages by way of compensation for loss suffered. The fault-based nature of tort liability requiring intent or negligence on the part of the defendant, subject to limited exceptions involving strict liability (private nuisance, aircraft operators for damage to persons or property on the surface). Multiple Tortfeasors In Torts, we will come across many situations where more than one person may be liable to the injured party. This may be because: - They each committed a separate tort (in which case they will be separately liable to the plaintiff) - They committed a tort together (e.g. jointly committing a tort against someone, or breaching a duty which was owed jointly to the plaintiff) Where more than one person is liable to the plaintiff for the same damage, the liability is “joint and several” in cases of personal injury: this means that the plaintiff may recover 100% of his/her loss (but not more) from any of the parties. The defendants may seek a contribution from each other, under s 5(1)(c) of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1946 (NSW) (see Statutory Extracts). In this way the damage can be spread according to what both P and D want. If the loss is property damage or economic loss caused by negligence, and not related to personal injury, then liability is now “proportionate”, under Part 4 of the Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW), meaning that generally each potential defendant is only primarily liable to the plaintiff for his or her proportion of the plaintiff’s loss. Liability for intentionally caused property damage or economic loss is still joint and several. Vicarious Liability The person who committed the tort was employed as an employee at the time and the tort was committed in the course of that employment. An employer’s vicarious liability is strict liability in the sense that it is not dependent on any personal fault on the part of the employer. The vicarious liability of an employer does not affect the personal responsibility of the employee who committed the tort as between the employee and the tort victim, although, in such case, the employee may be entitled to be indemnified by the employer in NSW under the Employees Liability Act 1991, as long as employee’s actions did not involve serious and wilful misconduct. 1. An employer is generally not liable for the torts of an independent contractor. 
 2. An employer is liable for the torts of an employee committed in the course of employment. 
 3. Determining whether a person is employed as an independent contractor or as an employee is not always straightforward. A number of factors are relevant. 
 4. Determining whether an act was committed in the course of employment is not always easy. Even prohibited acts may still be judged to be in the course of employment so as to render the employer liable (although the seriousness of the misconduct may disentitle the employee to be indemnified by the employer for any liability to the injured party). 
 Historical Background Modern tort law in essence is derived from the medieval forms of action trespass vi et armis (with force and arms). As a result, trespass is actionable per se (without proof of material loss or damage). Trespass on the case (“action on the case” or “case” or, confusingly, “an action of trespass on the case”) which date from the 13th and 14th centuries, respectively. Case is not actionable per se; proof of material loss or damage is an essential element of an action on the case such as the modern tort of negligence; onus of proof of fault; commencement of the limitation period. Direct/ Indirect Injury The Test for directness: * Reynold v Clarke: if a man throws a log onto the highway and it hits someone and injures them it is an “immediate wrong” and so trespass can be filed. If as it lies on the floor someone comes and trips over it and injures themselves then it can be brought as an action on the case because it is only a “consequential” injury of the original act. ➢ Trespass = Direct Injury. ➢ Action on the Case = Indirect/ Consequential Injury. Trespass cannot be committed by an involuntary act: fault in some form is required and we find that unless it is completely without fault it will be trespass. It is based on either intentional or negligent conduct. * Fowler v Lanning: trespass to the person does not lie if the injury to the plaintiff, although the direct consequence of the act of the defendant, was caused unintentionally and without negligence on the defendant’s past. * Williams v Milotin: “In the absence of intention of some kind or want of due care, a violation occurring in the course of traffic in a thoroughfare, is not actionable as trespass.” The need in highway cases to prove that the damage was caused either by an intentional act or by negligence is well established. Trespass and Negligence Fault in the intention to do the tortious act or want of due care in doing so is a key element of the tort of trespass in all of its forms. But is trespass limited to intentionally caused hard or