Types of torts

The main types of torts are negligent torts, intentional torts and strict liability torts.

Negligence occurs when there is a breach of a duty of care. A duty of care is the obligation to be reasonably careful during a potentially dangerous act. The most obvious example is driving: the driver has an obligation to avoid endangering others.

In order to prove negligence, a plaintiff must prove that the defendant had a duty of care (i.e. was performing a potentially harmful activity and was therefore obliged to be reasonably careful) and that there was a breach of duty (i.e. the defendant was careless). The third element which must be proved is causation (i.e. whether the defendant's carelessness wholly or partially, directly or indirectly, caused the harm which actually occurred). When a wrongdoer recklessly disregards others' rights to safety, gross negligence may have been committed. The motive may not have been to inflict harm, but rather to save or make money by endangering other people's safety. In such cases, the plaintiff may seek punitive damages to punish the wrongdoer, in addition to compensatory damages to compensate the victim.

Negligent torts form one of the major branches of tort law. They include a wide range of accidents and incidents which are committed unintentionally, but which nevertheless cause physical, emotional or financial harm. Examples of negligent torts include a local authority digging a hole in a public footpath and not taking steps to prevent people from falling into it, or when a building owner leaves dangerous electrical wires exposed.

The second major branch of tort law is intentional torts. As the name suggests, these involve the wrongdoer deliberately performing a wrongful act, and could reasonably have foreseen that harm would be done. Examples include assault and battery (e.g. physically attacking another person), libel and slander (i.e. deliberately damaging a person's reputation by lying, either in writing or orally), trespass to land (i.e. deliberately entering another person's real property without permission or authorisation) and conversion (i.e. treating another person's property as one's own, usually through theft). As these examples illustrate, intentional torts are very often also crimes, so the same act, such as an assault, may lead to both a criminal prosecution by the state (to punish and deter the offender) and a civil claim by the victim (to recover damages).

The third branch of tort law is strict liability, which relates, among other things, to businesses making and selling defective products. The manufacturers are responsible for ensuring that their products do not injure people. In fact, victims of such injuries do not need to prove negligence on the part of the manufacturer, as the separate tort of product liability (the liability to the public of a manufacturer or trader for selling a faulty product) covers all such injuries, whether or not negligence was involved. The plaintiff only needs to prove that the tort happened and the defendant was responsible. Under strict-liability rules, if an activity is inherently dangerous to other people (such as working with explosives), if somebody performing that activity accidentally harms others, it doesn't matter what precautions were in place - the person responsible is liable for the harm caused.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16