Dean Schofield's Terms to Remember

Negligence

Liability for negligence requires proof of a duty of care owed by the defendant to the plaintiff, a breach of that duty, and that the breach was the actual and proximate cause of harm suffered by the plaintiff.

General Duty

Everyone owes a general duty to exercise due care so as to not subject others to unreasonable risks of harm.

Negligence Per Se

Under the doctrine of negligence per se, the elements of duty and breach are proved when a safety statute is violated by the defendant, and the statute’s purpose is to protect the class of people to which the plaintiff belongs, from the kind of harm that the defendant caused.

Duty owed by land occupier to invitee

A land occupier owes a duty of ordinary care to invitees, which includes reasonably inspecting the land for dangerous conditions and repairing those dangerous conditions which a reasonable inspection would reveal.

Duty owed by land occupier to licensee

A land occupier owes a duty of ordinary care to licensees, which includes either warning licensees of known dangerous conditions, unless they are obvious or already known to the licensee, or repairing dangerous conditions to make the property safe.

Duty owed by land occupier to trespasser

A land occupier generally owes no duty of care to the trespasser unless the trespasser is a constant trespasser upon a limited area, or the trespasser is a child to whom the attractive nuisance doctrine applies.

Duty owed by land occupier to constant trespasser upon limited area

A land occupier owes a duty to a constant trespasser upon a limited area of warning him of known dangerous artificial conditions unless such conditions are obvious.

Attractive Nuisance Doctrine

A land occupier owes a duty of reasonable care to eliminate a danger or to otherwise protect children when the following elements are present: 1) foreseeability of trespass, 2) foreseeability of serious harm, 3) the child is unaware of the danger, and 4) the benefit to the owner of maintaining the condition in its dangerous form is slight when weighed against the risk to children.

Breach

A breach is the failure to perform one’s duty.

Actual Cause

An actual cause is the cause which starts, ignites or makes possible the result which follows, and which satisfies the “But-for” [or Substantial Factor Test.]

Proximate Cause

Proximate cause is an act which, in a natural and continuous sequence of events, unbroken by unforeseeable, independent, intervening acts, causes injury to the plaintiff, without which the injury would not have occurred.

Harm

The plaintiff must prove he suffered physical harm.