Torts and Unintentional Torts Complete the chart handout provided using the following notes

1. Torts and Unintentional Torts Complete the chart handout provided using the following notes

2. Torts and Unintentional Torts: Tort: Harm caused to a person or property for which the law provides a civil remedy Unintentional torts: Injuries caused by an accident or an action that was not intended to cause harm

3. NEGLIGENCE What is negligence?

4. In order for a defendant to be found negligent, each of the following factors must be proven: STAGE 1 Did the defendant owe the plaintiff a duty of care? Duty of care: the obligation to foresee and avoid careless actions that might cause harm to others. STAGE 2 Did the defendant fail to provide the plaintiff with the proper standard of care that a reasonable person would have provided in a similar situation? STAGE 3 Did the defendant’s actions (or failure to act) cause the plaintiff’s injuries?

5. Example: Tom, was in an extremely intoxicated state, went to a bar and was served three or four beers over a 50 minute period. After he left the bar, Tom drove his vehicle on the wrong side of the road and collided with Sam’s car, killing Sam. Sam’s wife decided to sue Tom and the bar owner over the death of her husband. What are the three stages of negligence and how do they relate to this case? 1. Did the defendant owe the plaintiff a duty of care? 2. Did the defendant fail to provide that duty of care? 3. Did the defendant’s actions (or failure to act) cause the plaintiff’s injuries?

6. Special Types of Liability Public Liability: Manufacturers have to meet a high standard of care in order to prevent injury to consumers who use their products. Occupier’s Liability: The responsibility of owners or renters to ensure that no one entering their premise is injured. Invitee: A person invited onto the property for a business person Licensee: A person with expressed or implied permission to pay a social visit. Trespasser: A person who enters another’s property without permission or legal right. Allurement: A site or an object that might attract children and result in causing them harm (Pool). Host: Someone who serves alcohol to guests or paying customers.

7. Some of the Sillier Law Suits An inmate filed a $5 million lawsuit against himself (he claimed that he violated his own civil rights by getting arrested) -- then asked the state to pay because he has no income in jail. He said, "I want to pay myself $5 million dollars, but ask the state to pay it on my behalf since I can't work and am a ward of the state." The judge was not impressed by his ingenuity, and dismissed the suit as frivolous. But You're More Stupider A convicted bank robber on parole robbed a California Savings and Loan Branch. The bank robber placed the money roll containing the hidden Security Pac in his front pants pocket. The Security Pac released tear gas and red dye resulting in second and third degree burns requiring treatment at a hospital. The bank robber sued the bank, the Security Pac manufacturer, the city the police and the hospital. (Source: ATRA <http://www.atra.org/atra/default.htmL>: Candelario v. City of Oakland, No. 628960-3 Cal. App. Dep't Super. Ct. 1987) A writer was sued for $60 million dollars after writing a book about a convicted Orange County serial killer. Although the inmate is on death row, he claimed that he was innocent in all 16 murders, so the characterization of him as a serial killer was false, misleading and "defamed his good name". In addition, he claimed those falsehoods would cause him to be "shunned by society and unable to find decent employment" once he returned to private life. The case was thrown out in a record 46 seconds, but only after $30,000 in legal fees were incurred by the writer's publisher. A minister and his wife sued a guide-dog school for $160,000 after a blind man learning to use a seeing-eye dog trod on the woman's toes in a shopping mall. Southeastern Guide Dogs Inc., a 13-year old guide-dog school and the only one of its kind in the Southeast, raises and trains seeing-eye dogs at no cost to the visually impaired. The school is located about 35 miles south of Tampa. The lawsuit was brought by Carolyn Christian and her husband, the Rev. William Christian. Each sought $80,000. The couple filed suit 13 months after Ms Christian's toe was stepped on and reportedly broken by a blind man who was learning to use his new guide dog, Freddy, under the supervision of an instructor. They were practicing at a shopping mall. According to witnesses, Ms Christian made no effort to get out of the blind man's way because she "wanted to see if the dog would walk around me".

8. A woman in Israel sued a TV station and its weatherman for $1,000 after he predicted a sunny day and it rained. The woman claims the forecast caused her to leave home lightly dressed. As a result, she caught the flu, missed 4 days of work, spent $38 on medication and suffered stress. She won! (Source: CALA) A surfer recently sued another surfer for "taking his wave." The case was ultimately dismissed because they were unable to put a price on "pain and suffering" endured by watching someone ride the wave that was "intended for you." (Source: CALA) A woman went into a Northridge discount department store to buy a blender. She decided to take the bottom box from a stack of four blenders from an upper shelf used to store extra stock. When she pulled out the bottom box, the rest of the boxes fell. She sued the store for not warning customers from taking stock from the upper shelf and for stacking the boxes so high. She claimed to sustain carpal tunnel syndrome and neck, shoulder and back pain. (Source: CALA) Danger! Dumb People; Beware! A college student in Idaho decided to "moon" someone from his 4th story dorm room window. He lost his balance, fell out of his window, and injured himself in the fall. Now the student expects the University to take the fall; he is suing them for "not warning him of the dangers of living on the 4th floor". (Source: CALA)

9. Man dies after being trampled on in Walmart