Legal Concepts in Negligence and Tort Law

A set of vocabulary flashcards defining key legal terms and doctrines related to torts, negligence, liability, and damages based on the lecture text.

Duty of Ordinary Care

The obligation to act as a reasonably prudent person would act under the same or similar circumstances.

Good Samaritan Law

A statute that imposes a statutory duty on individuals, such as motorists, to stop and assist people involved in accidents if they are able.

Res Ipsa Loquitur

A Latin phrase meaning "the thing speaks for itself," applied when negligence is so obvious that no expert testimony is required to establish a breach of duty.

Negligence Per Se

A doctrine in which a tortfeasor is presumed negligent because they violated a relevant statute or law that applies to the injury.

Actual Cause

Also referred to as "but-for cause," it establishes that but for the negligent act of the defendant, the injury would not have occurred.

Proximate Cause

A legal rule of causation based on closeness and foreseeability, determining whether a breach of duty was sufficiently close to the injury or too remote in the chain of events.

Business Invitee

A person invited onto property for mutual benefit or commercial exchange, to whom the landowner owes the highest duty of ordinary care.

Licensee

A person permitted on property without any mutual exchange of value, to whom the landowner owes protection from willful, intentional, or reckless injury.

Trespasser

An unwelcome person on property without permission, to whom the property owner owes the lowest duty of care, if any.

Attractive Nuisance Doctrine

An exception holding property owners liable for dangerous conditions on their land that may attract children or individuals with lesser decision-making skills.

Product Liability

Legal responsibility imposed on manufacturers and distributors for creating, designing, or distributing defective products.

Doctrine of Contributory Negligence

A strict legal rule providing that if a plaintiff is at all at fault (even 1%) for their injury, they are completely barred from recovering any damages.

Comparative Negligence

A legal doctrine allowing a jury to apportion fault by percentages, reducing the plaintiff's recovery by their percentage of fault as long as they are less than 50% at fault.

Gross Negligence

Conduct so extreme and reckless that it borders on intentional wrongdoing, exceeding standard negligence.

Compensatory Damages

Monetary awards paid to a plaintiff to compensate for actual losses resulting from an injury.

Special Damages

A subtype of compensatory damages that covers calculable financial losses, such as medical bills, mechanic fees, and lost wages.

General Damages

A subtype of compensatory damages covering non-calculable losses, such as pain and suffering or mental anguish.

Punitive Damages

Also called exemplary damages, these are monetary awards assessed over and above compensatory damages to punish a defendant for gross negligence or egregious conduct.

Strict Liability

Legal responsibility imposed without requiring proof of negligence, typically applied to dangerous animals, abnormally dangerous activities, or certain inherently dangerous products.

Duty of Ordinary Care

The obligation to act as a reasonably prudent person would act under the same or similar circumstances.

Good Samaritan Law

A statute that imposes a statutory duty on individuals, such as motorists, to stop and assist people involved in accidents if they are able.

Res Ipsa Loquitur

A Latin phrase meaning "the thing speaks for itself," applied when negligence is so obvious that no expert testimony is required to establish a breach of duty.

Negligence Per Se

A doctrine in which a tortfeasor is presumed negligent because they violated a relevant statute or law that applies to the injury.

Actual Cause

Also referred to as "but-for cause," it establishes that but for the negligent act of the defendant, the injury would not have occurred.

Proximate Cause

A legal rule of causation based on closeness and foreseeability, determining whether a breach of duty was sufficiently close to the injury or too remote in the chain of events.

Business Invitee

A person invited onto property for mutual benefit or commercial exchange, to whom the landowner owes the highest duty of ordinary care.

Licensee

A person permitted on property without any mutual exchange of value, to whom the landowner owes protection from willful, intentional, or reckless injury.

Trespasser

An unwelcome person on property without permission, to whom the property owner owes the lowest duty of care, if any.

Attractive Nuisance Doctrine

An exception holding property owners liable for dangerous conditions on their land that may attract children or individuals with lesser decision-making skills.

Product Liability

Legal responsibility imposed on manufacturers and distributors for creating, designing, or distributing defective products.

Doctrine of Contributory Negligence

A strict legal rule providing that if a plaintiff is at all at fault (even 1%) for their injury, they are completely barred from recovering any damages.

Comparative Negligence

A legal doctrine allowing a jury to apportion fault by percentages, reducing the plaintiff's recovery by their percentage of fault as long as they are less than 50% at fault.

Gross Negligence

Conduct so extreme and reckless that it borders on intentional wrongdoing, exceeding standard negligence.

Compensatory Damages

Monetary awards paid to a plaintiff to compensate for actual losses resulting from an injury.

Special Damages

A subtype of compensatory damages that covers calculable financial losses, such as medical bills, mechanic fees, and lost wages.

General Damages

A subtype of compensatory damages covering non-calculable losses, such as pain and suffering or mental anguish.

Punitive Damages

Also called exemplary damages, these are monetary awards assessed over and above compensatory damages to punish a defendant for gross negligence or egregious conduct.

Strict Liability

Legal responsibility imposed without requiring proof of negligence, typically applied to dangerous animals, abnormally dangerous activities, or certain inherently dangerous products.

Vicarious Liability

Legal responsibility imposed on one party for the negligent or wrongful actions committed by another person or entity.

Respondeat Superior

A legal doctrine holding an employer vicariously liable for the wrongful or negligent acts of an employee committed within the scope of employment.

Independent Contractor

A worker hired to perform a specific task who retains control over the means and methods of work, for whose torts the hiring party is generally not vicariously liable.