US Private Law Week

1. US PRIVATE
LAW

2. Altınbaş University
School of Law
US Private Law,
Law 396, Week 10
Dr. Nazim Can ISIKTAC
Tort Law-II

3. Previously on UPL
Torts
Definitions, sources and categories
Intentional Torts: Common types of intentional torts- Defenses to
Intentional Torts
Negligent Torts: Definition and Standards for determining negligence-
Causation in Negligence Cases- Defenses to Negligence
Liability Without Fault-Strict Liability

4. Tort Law-II
Strict Liability
Abnormally Dangerous Activities
Products Liability

5. Tort Law-II
Other Torts
The torts discussed so far have dealt with general interests in
freedom from physical harm or property damage. However, there
are other torts that are designed to protect special kind of
interests.
Relief Available in Tort Cases

6. Strict Liability
Strict Liability refers to liability without fault. This occurs when the law imposes
liability without requiring proof of intent, negligence, recklessness or any other fault.
Strict liability in tort is applied in cases involving abnormally dangerous activities
and in product liability cases.
The defendant in a strict liability action may even have taken all precautions
possible to prevent an injury to the plaintiff.
Strict liability was first applied in cases which involved owners of dangerous
animals, but the theory was later expanded to cover abnormally dangerous
activities.

7. Abnormally Dangerous Activities
A person who is involved in abnormally dangerous activities is legally responsible for harmful
consequences that are proximately caused. If the activity creates a risk of serious injury to the land or
chattels of the plaintiff or to the plaintiff himself and this risk cannot be eliminated through the exercise
of due care (e.g. fireworks displays or gasoline storage).

8. Abnormally Dangerous Activities
In determining whether an activity is abnormally dangerous, the following factors are to be considered
(Restatement §520):
1. Existence of a high degree of risk of some harm;
2. Likelihood that the harm that results from it will be great;
3. Inability to eliminate the risk by the exercise of reasonable care; extent to which the activity is not a
matter of common usage;
4. Inappropriateness of the activity to the place where it is carried on;
5. Extent to which its value to the community is outweighed by its dangerous attributes

9. Abnormally Dangerous Activities
Keeping of wild animals: Strict liability is imposed for injuries caused by wild
animals.
Fumigation of residences: Fumigator held liable for residents becoming ill even
though the reason fumes reached them was a defect in the buildings that the
fumigator could not have noticed (Old Island Fumigation v. Barbee, 604 So.2d 1246)
Fireworks displays: Spectators injured by fireworks display put on by pyrotechnic
company (Klein v. Pyrodyne Corp., 810 P.2d917)
Gasoline storage: Maintaining underground gasoline tank that contaminated water in
nearby well was ultra-hazardous activity ( Yommer v. McKenzie, 257 A.2d 138)

10. Product Liability
Strict liability is applied to dangerously
defective or unsafe products. (e.g. liability
for making and selling defective products).
A supplier of a product (manufacturer,
distributor or seller) is liable for personal
injury or property damage suffered by the
ultimate consumer or user of that product,
as a result of the product being in a
defective condition unreasonably
dangerous to the user. (Restatement
§402A)

11. Product Liability
A product is considered defective if it contains some irregularity that
renders it reasonably unsafe.
It applies even though the seller has exercised all possible care in the
preparation and sale of his product:
• A manufacturer can be held liable even if it maintained reasonable
quality control and there was no negligence in the design process.
• A retail seller can be held liable even though it was in no way involved
in the manufacturing or design process.

12. Product Liability
Defective manufacturing: When one item of a line of products is improperly
built, making it different from the rest. For example, a jar of baby food with
glass in it or, missing bolts on an airplane wing.
Defective design: When an entire line of products contains the same
harmful quality making it unnecessarily dangerous. For example, Ford Pinto
cars; a number of courts found the car to be inadequately designed because
its fuel tank had been placed too close to its rear axel, causing the tank to
rupture upon impact from the rear.
A failure to warn of a potential hazard associated with the product: A
defect when the risk of harm is foreseeable and a warning to the consumer
or user would substantially reduce the risk of that harm occurring.

13. Other Torts
Injuries to Economic Interests
Fraud and misrepresentation
Misrepresentation can be either false statements or the intentional concealment
or failure to disclose information.
Fraud is the intentional version of the tort of misrepresentation.
For example, if a seller knows that a home is termite-infested, but tells the buyer it
is not infested, the seller has made a false statement. If the seller, on the other
hand, covers up any evidence or termite infestation and does not tell the buyer of
the termites, this action could be considered intentional concealment or failure to
disclose information.

14. Other Torts
Misuse of Legal Procedures
Malicious prosecution: The filing of a criminal lawsuit for an improper purpose,
and without grounds or probable cause. For example, where a store has the plaintiff
prosecuted for shoplifting even though there was no reasonable basis for it.
Wrongful institution of civil proceedings: Similar to malicious prosecution but
applies when the defendant brings an unfounded civil lawsuit. A suit brought to
harass a person or to solicit a settlement with no real chance of success, is brought
for an improper purpose.
Abuse of process: Occurs when a civil or criminal suit is warranted, but a party
uses the litigation for an improper purpose. Threatening to subpoena a person to
testify in an ongoing suit unless the person pays a debt or performs some service.

15. Other Torts
Invasions of Dignitary Interests
Defamation: Defamation concerns a statement that injures a third party's
reputation. It can be either written or oral. For example, a newspaper knowingly
prints an article falsely asserting that a public figure has cheated on business
partners in the past.
Infliction of Emotional Distress: Relatively a new tort and the limits of liability are
still being defined. Intentional infliction of emotional distress occurs whenever a
defendant’s behavior toward the plaintiff is so outrageous and extreme that it causes
emotional distress. For example, assume Alice knows that Bryan is intensely
claustrophobic and intentionally locks Bryan in a closet to scare him. If Bryan suffers
a nervous breakdown as a result of this, Bryan could possibly recover for intentional
infliction of emotional distress.

16. Other Torts
Invasion of Privacy: There are four component torts of invasion of privacy, which are appropriation, intrusion,
displaying in a false light, and publicity of private life.
Appropriation: Use of a person’s name or picture for gains financially without her/his consent, such as where a
famous person’s name or photo is place in an advertisement for a product without consent.
Intrusion: Invasion of a person’s solitude, which would be extremely offensive to the reasonable person; such as
taking a photo of a person through the window of their house. However, it is not an actionable intrusion to take
another’s picture in a public place, such as a public beach or with permission in a private place.
Displaying in a false light: When the plaintiff is placed before the public in a way it would be offensive to a
reasonable person; recovery for a person being displayed in a false light doesn’t require it be proven that the
portrayal would injure a person’s reputation, as is the case with defamation.
Publicity of private life: Involves making the details of a person’s private life public.

17. Relief Available in Tort Cases
In general, two types of damages are available in tort cases: Compensatory damages and
Punitive damages
A plaintiff may recover both compensatory and punitive damages in the same case.
Compensatory Damages: general purpose is to compensate the plaintiff monetarily for the
actual damage suffered. Include both; Economic loss: actual expenses that the plaintiff
incurred (e.g., damaged property, medical bills, and lost wages) and Non-economic losses:
largest component of non-economic loss is pain and suffering. This category of damages is
designed to compensate the plaintiff for the conscious physical pain and mental suffering
that come with physical injury. (e.g., compensation for loss of enjoyment-in-life, such as the
inability to play violin, or any other customary activity that gave the victim pleasure in life
before the injury)

18. Relief Available in Tort Cases
Punitive Damages: Awarded only for egregious behavior and are designed to punish the
tortfeasor and deter a repetition of that conduct. Punitive damages are typically awarded in
intentional tort cases, but have also been awarded in some products liability actions, where
the manufacturer knew of a defect in its product and the potential for serious injury and
death, and yet made a conscious decision not to correct the defect.
For example, in Grimshaw v. Ford Motor Co., a woman was badly burned when the car she
was riding in burst into flames when it was struck in the rear end. Evidence introduced at the
trial showed that the defendant was aware of the defect before the car was introduced on the
market but chose not to remedy the defect. The jury awarded the plaintiff $2,500,000 in
compensatory damages and $125,500,000 in punitive damages. This amount was later
reduced to $3,500,000 by the court because of the gross disparity between the
compensatory and punitive damages. (174 Cal. Rptr. 348 (Cal.App. 1981))