Negligence
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Ex. You're texting and driving and you go through a stop sign and hit
someone
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The victim can sue you for negligence
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You have to prove:
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Driver owes pedestrian duty of care
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1. Basic duty: everyone is required to act like a reasonable
person of ordinary prudence would have acted under the same
circumstances
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2. Frequent issue: to whom the duty is owed
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You owe a duty to people who are foreseeably at the risk
of harm if there is a breach (ex. Pedestrian crossing an
intersection
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3. Who determines if a duty is owed?
(on exam)
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Sometimes there's a jury and sometimes there isn't. Even
if there is a jury, it is
always the judge
who decides if a
duty is owed
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Driver breached the duty of care
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1. Objective approach
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What would a hypothetical reasonable person do
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Look at the defendant's conduct rather than their
subjective state of mind
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2. 6 factors that courts look at to determine if there was a
breach
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How foreseeable is it that harm will result from the
defendant's conduct?
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The more foreseeable, the more likely there will be
a breach
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The seriousness of the foreseeable harm
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The more serious, the more likely there was a
breach
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Is there any social utility?
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Ex. if there's a burning apartment building and the
fire alarm goes off and fire trucks come rushing
out
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How easy would it be for the defendant to avoid the risk?
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More easy to avoid, more likely there was a breach
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Look at the personal characteristics of the defendant
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What would a reasonable 4 year old do?
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Intoxication is not a defense
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Context
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What was the defendant doing in the emergency?
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Ex. a woman is in labor, her husband speeds
