Chapter 10

1. Chapter 10 Torts: Negligence, Strict Liability, and Intentional Torts

2. What Is a Tort? • Tort means “to twist,” translating to “twisted actions” • Torts are civil wrongs such as slander, libel, negligence, and fraud • Torts result in individuals doing wrong to other individuals

3. Placing Torts inGeneral Business Law • Mainly state law • Torts and crimes occasionally overlap • Person owes tort duties to other persons but owes a duty to society not to commit crimes • Crimes and torts differ in how they are enforced and in their objectives • Tort law is a legal laboratory

4. Tort Classifications • Type of victim • Property • Person • Type of wrong • Careless (negligence) • Ultrahazardous activities (strict liability) • Intentional in nature

5. Negligence • Involves carelessness that injures others • Classified into four parts: • Duty • Breaking of the standard of care • Proximate cause • Damages

6. Negligence: How Duty Arises • Operation of the law • Contract • Malpractice • Privity rule

7. Negligence: Standard of Care • What an ordinary, reasonable, prudent person would do in the same situation • Should be objective, but takes into account many factors • Negligence per se doctrine • Res ipsa loquitor (“the thing speaks for itself”)

8. Negligence: Proximate Cause • Defendant’s carelessness caused a plaintiff’s damage • Defendant’s carelessness must be close in time and space to have caused plaintiff’s damages • Foreseeable is a key word in determining proximate cause

9. Negligence: Damages • If defendant breaks an owed duty to plaintiff, that alone doesn’t let plaintiff recover • Defendant must have caused damage to plaintiff’s person or property

10. Defenses to Negligence • Contributory negligence • Assumption of risk • Comparative fault • Damage apportionment

11. Strict Liability • Defendant is liable for harm even though no fault is shown • Ultrahazardous activities are allowed because their social value outweighs their hazards • Assumption of risk is a defense, but contributory negligence is not

12. Intentional Torts • Intentional torts compared with crimes • Intentional torts compared with negligence • Intentional torts compared with contracts

13. Remedies for Intentional Torts • Legal remedies • Nominal damages • Compensatory damages • Punitive damages • Equitable damages • Injunctions • Specific performance • Accountings

14. Fraud • Misrepresentation of material fact • Most frequently committed business torts

15. Invasion of Privacy • Intrusion upon plaintiff’s seclusion or into plaintiff’s private affairs • Public disclosure of private facts • Unauthorized appropriation of a person’s name or likeness • Holding up a person in a false light

16. Conversion • Unauthorized and unjustified interference with control of another person’s personal property • Any tangible personal property can be converted • Land and buildings cannot be converted

17. Wrongful Interference with Contractual Relations • Elements • Valid contract exists between two parties • A third party must know that contract exists between first two parties • Third party must intentionally induce first two parties to break contract

18. Defamation • Elements • Statement must be made by someone about another person • Favorable statements are not defamatory • Statement must be published (not necessarily in written form) • Privilege and absolute privilege

19. Torts Crimes Negligence Duty Negligence per se Res ipsa loquitur Proximate cause Contributory negligence Strict liability Intentional torts Legal remedies Equitable remedies Fraud False imprisonment Invasion of privacy Conversion Wrongful interference Intentional infliction of mental distress Defamation Recap – Terms to Know