Exam 8: Negligence and Strict Liability

The harshness of the contributory negligence doctrine has been mitigated by:

Pat and Sally started a charcoal fire for Sally's backyard barbecue and left it uncovered. Then Sally went into the kitchen to make hamburger patties. While Sally was inside, Pat backed up to catch a football and hit the grill, knocking the coals onto his feet. In a pure comparative negligence state, who is liable?

If a defendant acts under emergency conditions, these conditions will be taken into account in applying the reasonable person standard.

A reasonable person, as used in the law of torts, is a fictitious individual who is always careful, prudent, and never negligent.

The local supermarket has a large, glass front door which is well lighted and plainly visible. Nelson, who is new in the neighborhood, mistook the glass for an open doorway and walked into it, shattering the door and injuring himself. Under the Second Restatement, the store:

The plaintiff must prove that the defendant's negligent conduct proximately caused harm to a legally protected interest in order to have a valid negligence action.

For an action of negligence, six elements must be proved.

Even if a defendant's own negligent conduct created an emergency, he will not be liable for the consequences of the conduct if he acted with care in the resulting emergency situation.

Chris was driving a car with defective brakes very slowly down Fifth Avenue looking for a parking place. Mindy jumped out into the street five feet in front of his car. Chris could not help but hit her. What is Chris's best defense to the charge of negligence?

The legal doctrine upon which Justice Cardozo based his decision in the Palsgraf case is the doctrine of:

Under the Third Restatement, possessors of land:

Jack is a trucker who makes his living moving modular homes. This is a dangerous business in that the portions of the houses, when on the truck, are wider than the road lanes. Also, Jack frequently has to travel much more slowly than the other vehicles on the road. One day Jack, on his way to Atlanta with a modular home in tow, found himself approaching two trucks coming from the opposite direction with the words "High Museum Exhibits" on the truck panels. When Jack swerves to avoid a bicyclist, the High Museum truck runs off the road and tumbles down an embankment. No one is harmed, but the painting exhibit being transported is damaged. Discuss the various theories of negligence that might be applied here and why they would be appropriate.

Liability for the negligent conduct of a defendant requires not only that the conduct in fact caused injury to the plaintiff but also that it was the proximate cause of the injury.

Violation of a statute designed to protect underage, unlicensed drivers, as well as innocent third parties, from the consequences of juvenile car theft and "joy riding," by prohibiting car owners from leaving the keys in their car if the car is unattended, is likely to be characterized as:

In determining a defendant's liability for negligence, his or her superior skill or knowledge will be attributed in applying the reasonable person standard, thus increasing the chance that the defendant may be held liable.

Some states have today merged the implied assumption of risk doctrine into their comparative negligence systems.

In the majority of states, in a case of negligence per se , the plaintiff would only have to prove violation of a statute in order to show negligent conduct.