CHAPTER 1: INTRO TO TORT LAW
à Tort law allows P’s to obtain compensation for injuries inflicted on them by D’s or obtain court orders that stop ongoing or anticipated injuries.
· Deterrence: prevents people from committing certain acts because they will be punished for them
· Punishments: if something is carried out maliciously, intentional torts.
o Punitive damages: punishes someone for committing the tort
§ A Plaintiff is NEVER entitled to Punitive damages, they are discretionally and are awarded by the jury
· Society’s Standards: Tort doctrines express society’s standards for what types of conduct are acceptable.
· Resolve disputes: provide a forum for the citizens to resolve their disputes.
The difference between the tort law and contract law:
· Contracts: the duty is agreed upon by the parties, violation of a duty that he voluntarily assumed
· Torts: violation of a duty imposed by law
o Professors view of torts: P claims he suffered a loss, he claims he was injured by an act of the D, which he claims constitutes a tort. Should the P be able to recover for the loss he suffered? (P wants to make himself whole again) P claims the D should cover for that loss. In order to determine if the loss should be shifted to the D we need to see what facts and laws are relevant in the case.
§ Societal question: Who should bear the risk of Loss?
· à When does the legislature make law? When the need arises, Legislature conducts studies, gather date from lots of sources (including judges) nd then they formulate what the law should be, dispassionately, without considering the two parties at hand.
The difference between tort law and criminal law:
· A person’s conduct may be both a tort and a crime.
o For example: when a person shoots and kills another, the injury might be called a battery in tort aw and murder in criminal law.
· In criminal cases:
o the decision to initiate a case is made by a public official (a prosecutor)
o the prosecutor must prove “beyond reasonable doubt”
o the sanctions imposed usually are deprivation of the D’s liberty by imprisonment (or be lesser requirements such as probation) or a fine must be paid to the government
o when a court fines or imprisons a D he has been “found guilty”
· In tort cases:
o the decision to initiate a case is made by a private individual (a plaintiff)
o the P mu
ut the P’s conduct or some other aspect of the case should prevent the court from ruling in the P’s favor
Legal Theory:determines what the P must prove to obtain the remedy he seeks
Factual Theory: a statement of what caused the plaintiff’s injury, including a statement of what the D did or did not do in the context of the significant circumstances related to the injury.
· Summary Judgment:
o A court will grant a party’s motion for SJ only when the court concludes that there are no material factual questions to be decided and the law is so clearly in that party’s favor that he or she is entitled to win without a trial.
§ If there is an issue of fact that needs to be submitted to the jury SJ cannot be granted
§ à Does the harmfulness or offensiveness have to be part of the intent or part of the result?
Is granted on the merits if there are no triable issues of fact, and therefore one party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.
