M7: Introduction to Negligence Defenses

Overview of Negligence Litigation and the Role of Defenses

  • Successfully proving the prima facie case for negligence does not automatically guarantee a victory for the plaintiff.

  • A plaintiff may successfully establish all five standard elements of a negligence claim:

    • Duty

    • Breach (the defendant breached the duty of care)

    • Actual Causation

    • Proximate Causation

    • Harm (the plaintiff suffered actual damages)

  • Even when these elements are proven, tort law provides several defenses that can lead to two specific outcomes:

    • Defeating the plaintiff's case in its entirety (absolute bar to recovery).

    • Reducing the amount of monetary recovery the plaintiff is seeking.

The Concept of Affirmative Defenses

  • Tort law utilizes what are known as "affirmative defenses."

  • In an affirmative defense, the defendant essentially concedes the basic facts of the negligence claim but offers a legal justification that overrides liability.

  • The defendant's position in an affirmative defense can be summarized as follows: "Yes, I breached the duty of care that caused the plaintiff's harm. Nevertheless, I still win because of some reason."

Traditional Affirmative Defenses: Contributory Negligence

  • Contributory negligence is one of the two traditional affirmative defenses used to address a plaintiff's role in their own injury.

  • Definition: Contributory negligence refers specifically to the plaintiff's own "unreasonable conduct."

  • Scope: This conduct must contribute directly to the accident at issue in the legal case.

  • Reasoning: If a plaintiff's own lack of care played a part in the harm they suffered, this defense may mitigate or eliminate the defendant's liability.

Traditional Affirmative Defenses: Assumption of the Risk

  • Assumption of the risk is the second primary traditional affirmative defense to negligence claims.

  • Definition: This defense refers to the plaintiff's "knowing choice" regarding a particular risk.

  • Materialization: The defense is applicable when the specific risk that the plaintiff knowingly chose to take eventually materializes and leads to the plaintiff's harm.

  • Criteria: Unlike contributory negligence, which focuses on the unreasonableness of the action, assumption of the risk focuses on the plaintiff's subjective knowledge and voluntary decision to encounter a known danger.