Youth and Law Study guide

Tort

A breach of an obligation that causes damages or injuries to someone.

Plaintiff

The harmed individual.

Judgement

A court's decision in civil case.

Defendant

The accused wrongdoer.

Damages

Injuries suffered by one person due to the fault of another.

Liable

Legally responsible.

Remedy

Something to make up for harm done.

Liability

Legal responsibility for harm.

Settlement

A mutual agreement between two sides in a civil lawsuit.

Common law

A system in which court decisions establish legal principles and rules of law.

Statutes

Written laws enacted by legislatures.

Intentional Wrong

An action done with the intent of injuring a person, his property or both; may also be crimes.

Negligence

Failure to exercise a reasonable amount of care in either doing right or wrong something.

Strict Liability

When defendant is engaged in an activity so dangerous that there's serious risk of harm even if utmost care is taken; applies to 1. Dangerous Pet owners 2. Dangerous activity goers 3. Manufacturers of dangerous things.

Defense

A denial, answer, or plea by a defendant, disputing the correctness of charges against the defendant.

Civil Law

Deals with disputes between individuals or groups of them.

Contingency Fee

Not charging hourly but for a percentage; also pay reasonable expenses.

Intentional Torts

actions taken deliberately to harm another person and/or his or her property; intentional wrong.

Compensatory Damages

in a civil case, money the court requires a defendant to pay a winning plaintiff to make up for harm caused. This harm can be financial (for example, lost wages, medical expenses, etc.), physical (for example, past, present, and future pain and suffering), and, in some jurisdiction, emotional (fright and shock, anxiety, etc.).

Nominal damages

a token amount of money awarded by a court to a plaintiff to show that the claim was justified, even if the plaintiff is unable to prove economic harm

Punitive damages

awards in excess of the proven economic loss. In a tort action, they are awarded to the plaintiff to punish the defendant and to warn others not to engage in such conduct

Battery

any intentional, unlawful physical contact inflicted on one person by another without consent. In some states, this is combined with assault.

Assault

an intentional threat, show of force, or movement that causes a reasonable fear of, or an actual physical contact with, another person. Can be a crime or a tort.

Infliction of emotional distress

a tort in which a defendant purposely engages in an action that causes extreme emotional harm to the plaintiff

False imprisonment

the intentional or wrongful confinement of another person against his or her will.

Defamation

written or spoken expression about a person that is false and damages that person's reputation

Slander

spoken expression about a person that is false and damages that person's reputation.

Libel

a written expression about a person that is false and damages that person's reputation.

Personal property

property or belongings that can be moved, such as cars, clothing, furniture, and appliances.

Intellectual property

a person's idea or invention that is given special ownership protections

Nuisance

an unreasonable interference with the use and enjoyment of one's property, usually repeated or continued for prolonged periods of time.

Conversion

in tort law, the taking or controlling or another's property without consent. If the property is not returned to the rightful owner, the court can force the defendant to five the plaintiff the monetary value of the property.

Patent

federal protection for an invention or design, giving the inventor exclusive ownership rights for a period of time.

Copyright

the protection of a creative fixed expression giving the owner exclusive rights to the expression

Trespass

The unauthorized intrusion on or improper use of property belonging to another person. This can be the basis of an intentional tort case or a criminal prosecution.

duty

a legal obligation

breach of duty

violates standard of care/duty

causation

the reason an event occurs; that which produces an effect. One of four elements that must be proven in a negligence case.

damages

(1) the injuries or losses by one person due to the fault of another (2) money asked for or paid by court order to a plaintiff for injuries or losses suffered

cause in fact

one of the elements a plaintiff must prove in order to establish causation in a negligence suit. It means that the harm would not have occurred without the wrongful act.

proximate cause

in negligence law, this concept limits damages the defendant must pay to only those harms that are reasonably predictable consequences of the defendant's wrongful acts.

foreseeable harm

injury a person could reasonably predict.

contributory negligence

a legal defense in which it is determined that the plaintiff and the defendant share the fault for a negligence tort. If proven, the plaintiff cannot recover damages.

comparative negligence

in a tort suit, a finding that the plaintiff was partly at fault and, therefore, does not deserve full compensation for his or her injuries. For example, if an accident was 40% the plaintiff's fault, the plaintiff's damages are reduced by 40%.

reasonable person standard

The idealize standard of how a community expects its members to act. It is based on how much care a person of ordinary prudence would exercise in a particular situation

Causation and damages

Elements of strict liability torts.

frivolous lawsuits

cases without merit, sometimes filed in an effort to force the defendant to offer a cash settlement rather than going to the expense of defending the lawsuit

tort reform

the movement that focuses on changing the process of settling tort claims. it emphasizes methods other than going to court or establishes limitations on how much money the winning party may receive.