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Tort Law

Tort Law. Jody Blanke Ernest L. Baskin, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Computer Information Systems and Law. Torts. Strict Liability Intentional Torts Negligence. Strict Liability. Liability without fault neither intent nor negligence need be shown Ultrahazardous activities

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Tort Law

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  1. Tort Law Jody Blanke Ernest L. Baskin, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Computer Information Systems and Law

  2. Torts • Strict Liability • Intentional Torts • Negligence

  3. Strict Liability • Liability without fault • neither intent nor negligence need be shown • Ultrahazardous activities • e.g., dynamite blasting • e.g., ownership of wild animals • lions and tigers and bears …

  4. Intentional Torts • Battery • Assault • False Imprisonment • Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress

  5. Invasion of Privacy • Appropriation of name or likeness • Intrusion upon seclusion • False light • Publication of private embarrassing facts Silvia Leyva at Café Intermezzo, Perimeter

  6. Appropriation of Name or Likeness • Earliest privacy cases • Ex. Michael Jordan Wine

  7. Intrusion Upon Seclusion • Jackie O • Holiday Inn • Mazzio’s Pizza • Sean Penn • Bill Gates • Bob Dylan • Katz • Kyllo

  8. U. S. v. Katz (1967) • Introduced the “reasonable expectation of privacy” standard • The FBI had placed a tape recorder between two telephone booths and recorded Katz making or taking bets

  9. Your Home is Your Castle • Kyllo v. U.S. (2001) • Thermal imaging of a home constitutes a search • Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) • Supreme Court upheld Georgia sodomy law • Lawrence v. Texas (2003) • Supreme Court overturned Bowers

  10. Your Workplace? • Not so much

  11. False Light • Parade Magazine article on Teenage Prostitution

  12. Publication of Private Embarrassing Facts • “Joe Hero” • Potomac River plane crash • Assassination attempt on Gerald Ford

  13. Defamation • Libel and slander • Truth is a defense • Richard Jewell • against media defendant, must prove “actual malice”

  14. Trespass • Trespass to land • Conversion • Trespass to personal property (trespass to chattels)

  15. Interference with Contractual Relations • $10.5B award against Texaco for interfering with Penzoil’s contract to buy Getty (later settled for $3B) • “Ditch the dish”

  16. Negligence • Duty • Breach of Duty • Causation • Injury

  17. Duty of Care • Reasonable person standard • Is there a legal duty? • e.g.,Lady Di, Seinfeld finale, Good Samaritan laws

  18. Breach of Duty • What would the reasonable person do in similar circumstances? • Professional standard – malpractice • Negligence per se • Res ipsa loquitur • A burden of proof shifting doctrine

  19. Causation • Actual cause (causation in fact) • “but for” analysis • e.g.,Rube Goldberg cartoons, Mouse Trap

  20. Causation • Proximate cause (legal cause) • foreseeabilty • e.g.,Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad • e.g., Crankshaw v. Piedmont Driving Club

  21. Injury • Plaintiff must prove injury • Injury need not be personal injury

  22. Defenses to Negligence • Assumption of Risk • Fellow-Servant Rule

  23. Defenses to Negligence • Contributory Negligence • e.g., the “rolling stop” • Comparative Negligence • pure comparative negligence • modified comparative negligence (50% rule)

  24. Product Liability • Warranty (contract) law • Negligence • Strict liability

  25. Rationale • Stream of commerce theory • manufacturer hopes to profit; must pay price • Last best chance • manufacturer in best position to prevent injury • Economic theory • dangerous products will price themselves out of market

  26. Lawn Darts

  27. Lawn Darts

  28. Early Cases • MacPherson v. BuickMotor Co. (1916) • eliminated privityof contract requirement • consumer can sue manufacturer

  29. Early Cases • Greenman v. Yuba Power Products (1963) • applied strict liability in tort • manufacturer responsible for product it places in the market

  30. Restatement (Second) of Torts • § 402A provides • 1. One who sells any product in a defective condition unreasonably dangerous to the user or consumer or to his property is subject to liability for physical harm thereby caused to the ultimate user or consumer, or to his property, if • (a) the seller is engaged in the business of selling such a product, and • (b) it is expected to and does reach the user or consumer without substantial change in the condition in which it is sold. • 2. The rule stated in Subsection (1) applies although • (a) the seller has exercised all possible care in the preparation and sale of his product, and • (b) the user or consumer has not bought the product from or entered into any contractual relation with the seller.

  31. Restatement (Third) of Torts • Defines “defect” • A product is defective when, at the time of sale or distribution, contains a manufacturing defect, is defective in design, or is defective because of inadequate instructions or warnings

  32. Manufacturing Defect • Failure to meet design specifications • e.g., Inspected by 17

  33. Design Defect • Faulty design • e.g., Ford Pinto

  34. Inadequate Warning • Failure to warn • e.g., guns and peanut butter

  35. Defenses • Assumption of Risk • Comparative Fault • Misuse

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