Expanding Reasonableness in the Field of Torts Induces Efficiency and Fairness
1. Introduction
Over the past several years the body of laws governing compensation in tort law has substantially transformed from its common law origins. In the course of what many have advocated in the name of "tort reform," more than half of the United States have revised, or attempted to revise, one or more aspects of tort liability and damage principles to a greater or lesser degree. Tort law is, of course, constantly evolving; everyday in courts across the country, judges, attorneys and jurors are making and reshaping the law. Despite efforts for reform, one still cannot overlook the nature of modern torts and fail to
…show more content…
Employing two different sets of recovery is cumbersome and confusing for those seeking recovery. Also, the courts would have an easier time of understanding and applying one set of laws and regulations than two different sets as we have today. Historically, however, the use of negligence theory for such purposes was drastically limited by the requirement of privity.10 This requirement stems from an 1842 English case, Winterbottom, where the driver of a mail coach was injured when the coach broke down due to a lack of repair.11 He sued the defendant, who contracted with the post office to keep the coach in good condition. The court held that since the defendant 's original duty or repair arose out of a contract; that duty extended only to the other contracting party; the post office. Since the plaintiff never contracted with the defendant, his lack of privity meant that he could not recover, either in contract or more importantly for this discussion, tort. 12
During the seventy years following this case, the courts modified that rule to permit negligence suits without privity where personal injury occurred from an "inherently dangerous" defective product.13 A consumer who was made sick by contaminated food, for example, could sue the manufacturer, even though she had made her purchase from a retailer; the food was said
The first case that is discussed is Liebeck v. McDonald’s Rests or “Hot Coffee” as it is well known for. Stella Liebeck suffered immense burn damage on her thighs when a coffee from McDonald spilled over her legs. She needed a surgical operation called skin graft, where a piece of healthy skin is transplanted to a new site on the body, and other medical assistance that reach over $100,000. She and her family tried to reach McDonals to get a settlement for the damages, but was welcomed with denial and lack of cooperation in settlements and coverage for medical expenses, so the family decided to sue the company for gross negligence.
In Caparo Industries plc v Dickman7, it was determined that courts had to test the duty by “whether the damage was reasonably foreseeable, whether there was a relationship of proximity between claimant and defendant, and whether it is just and reasonable to impose a duty.”8 If so, then a duty of care could arise.
Since about the mid-late 1980’s many states have implemented and enforced statutes to limit tort lawsuits. Tort reform is the political term for redefining tort laws and reducing tort litigation, damages, compensation, and even amounts awarded (Quinn). The reformation of the nation’s tort system, or changing laws throughout a state dealing with injuries to a person or their property have done a lot more harm than good for consumers. While each tort reform law varies depending on the state, they all have one of the following goals in mind: “(1) to make it more difficult for injured people to file a lawsuit, (2) to make it more difficult for injured people to obtain a jury trial, (3) to place limits on the amount of money injured people receive in a lawsuit (Lane).”
Businesses could be held liable for negligent tort if their product injury, harms consumers or is falsely represented. Nonetheless, when the circumstances warrant, parties that are not guilty of negligence or an unintentional tort can still be subjected to compensations when their products injure customers (Seaquist, 2012) Recall Negligence is an unintentional tort wherein one party is injured result to some actions of another. There are certain factors that must be considered to determines whether a corporation acted negligently. The elements are the following: a breach of that duty, legal duty to use due care, a reasonable close causal connection between the breach and the plaintiffs resulting in injury, and the actual loss or damage to the plaintiff. This paper is going to discuss a negligent tort due to a company’s recall of its product. The company may be considered liable for negligence if there was no recall on their product and the product caused bodily harm to a consumer (Benjamin, 2015). Throughout the paper will discuss the reason of Toshiba recalling their laptop computer battery packs due to burn and because of its potential to catch fire on March 30, 2016 and the recall number is 16-131. If the company did not make the decision to recall their laptop computer battery could have been diligent. To prove the negligent tort the consumer must prove factors such duty to care and defenses of negligence (Seaquist, 2012).
In week three we were provided with two scenarios and were asked to analyze the tort actions found in both. The first scenario involves fans and participants at a football game; including a father and son, and angry fan, stadium workers, and other spectators. Actions that transpire include the spilling of beer on one fan by another, a shove of one fan of anther, a fall, injury, yelling, and repercussions of the stated actions.
This Article will address a wide variety of arguments for and against tort reform, and will discuss possible solutions to improve the current tort system. My purpose in writing this Article is not to offer a definitive solution to the tort reform debate, but instead to accurately present and analyze tort reform issues in the hope that someday a "wise agreement"7 will be negotiated that meets the needs of all parties involved in the tort
Tort reform is very controversial issue. From the plaintiff’s perspective, tort reforms seems to take liability away from places such as insurance companies and hospitals which could at times leave the plaintiff without defense. From the defendant’s perspective, tort reform provides a defense from extremely large punitive damage awards. There seems to be no median between the two. Neither side will be satisfied. With the help of affiliations such as the American Tort Reform Association and Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse, many businesses and corporations are working to change the current tort system to stop these high cash awards.
In the United States justice system, a tort is best defined as an injury or loss that was committed deliberately or negligently by a single person or an entity (Crane). The history of tort law can be traced back to the initial trespass of property or person, but it was not until the 18th century that the distinction between intentional and unintentional acts was made (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia). In recent years, tort law has become the center of scrutiny through the increase in tort costs, insurance liability costs, and the number of frivolous lawsuits made. This scrutiny has lead to the creation of tort reform. Tort reform is a movement to reshape the way consumers can access the courts by restricting their right to sue and
Can you elect to recover your damages from the resort only, even though Tex and Rex were primarily responsible for your injuries?
Critique on “Damages” as a remedy for breach of contract under Indian, American, English and Chinese law.
Torts of negligence are breaches of duty that results to injury to another person to whom the duty breached is owed. Like all other torts, the requirements for this are duty, breach of duty by the defendant, causation and injury(Stuhmcke and Corporation.E 2001). However, this form of tort differs from intentional tort as regards the manner the duty is breached. In torts of negligence, duties are breached by negligence and not by intent. Negligence is conduct that falls below the standard of care established by law for the protection of others against unreasonable risk of harm(Stuhmcke and Corporation.E 2001). The standard measure of negligence is the universal reasonable person standard. The assumption in this case is that a reasonable
Negligent companies who don’t care about the well being of individuals but themselves are harming the community in the most brutal way. Argo Motors and PG&E were the perfect examples of Tort Law and negligence because they cared more about making more profit off their companies and not the well being of people; leading to extreme measures such as hiding evidence and scheming on how to get away with it. In this analysis, I will talk about the Class Action and Erin Brockovich cases, two cases that took a toll when people were severely injured causing death by failing to act with reasonable care.
Perhaps the greatest insight provided by my colleague's discussion is the deconstruction of the process by which the concept of negligence did ultimately emerge as a new tort standard. Here, the discussion illustrates the challenge before a judicial body when a legal conflict appears to bring about a new and previously unforeseen point of contention. In this case, as my colleague highlights so effectively, the charge of fraud would be the only theretofore existent way of legally addressing liability for a business or organization such as the defendant in this case. The great insight provided by my colleague is in acknowledgement of the exhaustive review of existing legal documents engaged by the ruling parties and arguing parties. This process demonstrates well that even where no precedent existing for what would become the charge of negligence,
Punitive damages are about “how the damages occurred” and not about the amount or type of damages that occurred.”