LAW 122 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Contributory Negligence, Professional Development, Gas Lighting
Document Summary
Purpose: to compensate for harmful risky actions conducted carelessly, but to allow for careful risk-taking. Elements of negligence: duty of care, standard of care, causation. Basic elements: the defendant owed the plaintiff a duty of care, the defendant breached that duty, the plaintiff suffered a loss, the breach of duty by the defendant was the proximate cause of the. Negating any element will be a complete defense to a claim of negligence plaintiff"s loss. Subtest: whether or not it is reasonably foreseeable. If yes, then they owe a duty of care. Should the defendant care about the plaintiff. Definition: exists if defendant is required to use reasonable care to avoid injuring the plaintiff. Slip and fall on icy sidewalks in from of store. Opinion of either plaintiff or defendant does not matter: not subjective, not perfect - average. Are they proximate (close): physical proximity, social proximity.
