#12288 - Overview - Torts

Torts Outline

Professor Jed Shugerman

DUTY

Intentional Torts (Vosberg, kick)

Dual Intent (Vosberg, kick)

Transferred Intent (Talmage, transferred intent w/ stick)

Private Necessity (Ploof, boat goes; Vincent, boat stays)

Public Necessity (Respublica, house burning error)

Consent (Vosberg, kick)

Reasonable Care (Vaughn, haystack)

Semi-objective Care

Child (Roberts, car)

Insane (Breunig, Batmobile)

Nonfeasance (Hurley, doctor)

Misfeasance (Montgomery, ice truck)

Special Relationships

Negligent Entrustment (Weirum, radio)

Landlords (Kline, mugging)

Psychiatrists (Tarasoff, Berkeley psycho)

Premises

Trespassers

Licensee (Robert Addie, att. nuisance)

Business Invitees (Dalury, ski crash)

California Rule (Rowland, 3-part test)

Statutes

Clarification of RC (Martin, headlights)

Private COA (Uhr, scoliosis)

Comm. Cars. / Innkeepers (Andrews, United Airlines)

Strict Liability

ADAs

Ultrahazardous (Rylands, reservoir)

ADA (Cyanamid, train toxins)

RST / RTT (main factor: great harm)

Unexpected ADAs

Third-Parties (Yukon, unexpected thieves)

Abnormally Sensitive (Madsen, minks)

Animals & Fires (Epstein 968, must know)

Nuisances (Boomer, pollution)

Coming to the Nuisance (Spur Inds., feedlot)

Product Liability

Manufacture (Escola, Coca-Cola)

Design

Risk-Utility (Denny, Ford Bronco)

Consum. Exp. (Castro, QVC netwrk pan)

Warning (MacDonald, over-cluttered warning)

Vicarious Liability

“Frolics” (Bushey, US sailor)

Intentional (Lisa M., related to work OK)

Hostile Environment (Burlington, sex harass.)

Negligent Hiring (Schechter, hiring criminals)

PURPOSES OF TORT LAW

Corrective Justice: Victims should be made whole by matching with the people who harmed them. Individual fairness.

Redress of Social Grievances / Social Justice: Victims should have their day in court, and should be able to put authorities on trial.

Collective Justice / Optimal Deterrence: Best cost avoiders should be deterred from causing socially unacceptable harms.

Compensation / Loss Distribution: Victims should be compensated for their losses by groups most responsible or able to do so.

Judicial Economy : The court system should dissuade unnecessary or frivolous lawsuits.

BREACH

Negligence (Generally) (Brown, stick; Robinson, hole)

Foreseeability (Blyth, extreme frost)

Balance (Cooley, telephone explosion)

BPL (Carroll Towing, bargee)

Custom (The T.J. Hooper, radios evidence but not dispositive)

Doctors (FFTL, dispositive)

Statutes (Gorris, sheep, harm within the statute)

Exceptions (Tedla, walking on wrong side)

Internal Regulations (Lucy Webb, not neg. per se)

Res Ipsa Loquitur (Byrne, barrel; Colmenares, escalator)

Multiple Δs (Ybarra, doctors)

Utmost Care (Andrews, United Airlines)

CAUSE-IN-FACT

But-For Causation (Grimstad, life preserver)

Insult to Injury (Haft, no lifeguard; “stick it to breacher”)

Substantial Factor (Zuchowicz, FDA overdose)

Uncertainty (Reynolds, staircase)

Lost Chance (Herskovitz, “dead man walking”)

Prob. Fut. Consequences (Jackson, asbestosis; 50%)

Joint-Several Liability (Kingston, train fire)

Alternative Causation (Summers, hunters)

Enterprise Liability (Hall, blasting caps)

Market-Share Liability (Skipworth, lead poisoning)

PROXIMATE CAUSATION

Foreseeability (Palsgraf, fireworks and trains)

Harm-within-the-Risk (Berry, speeding train hit tree)

Substantial Factor (Kinsman, ship creating dam)

Directness (Polemis, boat board blowup)

Heightened Risk (Marshall, stalled driver hit by Θ)

3rd Party Harm (Wagon Mound, oil fire; Watson, train fire)

3rd Party Rescue (Wagner, train cliff diver)

DEFENSES

Comparative Negligence (Yellow Cab, speeding car & neg. cab)

Intentional Torts (Morgen, contribution by Π irrelevant)

S/L (Rylands: presumption; Bohan: comp. causation)

Other S/L (RST §524: knowingly & unreasonably; Shug: comp. risk creation; Daly: equitable apportionment)

Assumption of Risk (Steeplechase, flopper)

Adhesion Contract (Dalury, “blood on the ground”)

Necessity (Ploof, boat goes; Vincent, boat stays)

DAMAGES

Thin-Skull / Thin-Hull (Vosberg, kick; Polemis, boat board blowup)

Derivative Losses (McDougald, cognitive awareness required)

Direct Emotional Distress (Dillon, danger zone; Payton, asbestos)

Bystander Emo. Distress (Dillon, proximity/observation/relation)

Pure Economic Losses (Union Oil, fishermen recovery)

Punitive Damages (State Farm, reprehensibility/disparity/compar.)

ALTERNATIVES

Workers’ Compensation (Clodgo, staple gun)

No-Fault Liability (torts v. pure v. real v. add-on)

SHUGISMS

“stick it to the breacher” | muddy standards & crystal rules | moral hazards | best cost avoiders | deep pockets & judgment proof | hindsight bias | foresight bias | “blood on the ground” | comparative risk creation | legal realism | “off-switches” & “on-switches” | “kick it to the jury” | fake substantial factor | insult to injury | private AG | practical politics | this is America | rough sense of justice | double-click | Learned (Slight of) Hand | clean hands | slam dunk | under the table strict liability | capture | elected judges |