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US Private Law Week 10.pptx
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- 2. Altınbaş University School ofLaw 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 AbnormallyDangerous Activities Products Liability
- 5. Tort Law-II Other Torts Thetorts 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 Liabilityrefers 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 Aperson 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 Indetermining 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 Keepingof 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 liabilityis 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 productis 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 toEconomic 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 ofLegal 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 ofDignitary 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 ofPrivacy: 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 inTort 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 inTort 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))