Intro to Civil Law,
Torts and Negligence
Torts and
Personal Injury Overview
The word “tort” comes from French word for
“wrong”.
Primary aim of “tort law” is to provide
relief for damages incurred. And to deter
others from committing the same harms.
Torts are civil wrongs that result in an injury or harm and make
up the basis for a claim and lawsuit by the injured party.
The types of damages the injured party may recover are:
1. Loss of earning capacity or lost
wages
2. Pain and suffering
3. Reasonable medical expenses
Specific torts include acts such as:
·
Trespass
·
Assault
·
Battery
·
Negligence
·
Producing
faulty products
·
Intentional
infliction of emotional distress
·
Defamation
of character
Tort law determines when the person who causes the harm must
pay compensation to the person who
suffers the harm.
·
Personal
Injury Law encompasses all types of physical and psychological injuries a
person might suffer arising from:
o
Car
crashes
o
Occupier’s
Liability
o
Public
Liability
o
Negligence
of School Boards
o
Product
Liability
o
Catastrophic
Loss, e.g. accident resulting in paraplegia
The Tort of
Negligence – is when harm occurs as a result of an individual, who is
under a “duty” of care fails to meet a standard of care imposed by that “duty”
of care either by an act or by an omission.
In general terms, Intentional
Torts, are any intentional acts that are reasonably foreseeable to
cause harm to an individual and do so.
ELEMENTS
OF THE TORT OF NEGLIGENCE
1. NEGLIGENCE
Insufficient
care; what a reasonable person should have done to protect the plaintiff
2. CAUSATION
Negligence
must in fact be a cause of the damages complained of
3. DAMAGES
Actual loss or
damage of a type recognized by law (usually
a monetary loss)
4. DUTY OF CARE
An obligation by
defendant to exercise sufficient care towards the plaintiff
5. STANDARD OF CARE
It is appropriate
to hold the defendant liable based upon their
expected standard of care owed to the plaintiff
ELEMENTS OF AN INTENTIONAL TORT
1. INTENTIONAL
TORT
The action
resulting in the harm was intentional or voluntary
2. INJURY
The
action must have caused harm or injury to the
plaintiff
3. CAUSATION
The
Tort was in fact the cause of the harm or injury
4. DAMAGES
The injury caused
harm that can be rectified by (usually) a monetary payment to return the
plaintiff to their position before the injury.
Further to this are these two presentations:
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