Negligence by Snježana Husinec

Negligence  failure to exercise the care toward others which a reasonable or prudent person would do in the circumstances, or taking action which such a reasonable person would not Donoghue vs. Stevenson (1932)

Two types of negligence a) Civil (minor personal injury and property damage) a) Criminal (results in death where there was no intention of injury)

Elements of negligence claim A) Duty of care (towards a plaintiff/claimant) B) Breach of duty (on the part of the defendant) C) Causation (cause and effect connection between the breach and the harm) D) Damage (injury or harm as a consequence of the breach)

A) Duty of care  a person owes a duty of care to another when the reasonable person would foresee that the other will be exposed to the risk of injury  Eg. – a driver of a vehicle owes a duty to anyone within the area of risk when moving - other road users, pedestrians, the owner of adjacent land and buildings

B) Breach of duty  unreasonable running a risk and harming to the others or their property

C) Causation - a two stage inquiry I FACTUAL CAUSATION – a defendant is held liable if the particular acts or omissions were the cause of the loss or damage sustained basic test of causation – but-for test “But for the defendant’s act, would the harm have occurred?” (“Would you be harmed without my breach of duty?” – if NO – I am liable) II LEGAL CAUSATION (US – the doctrine of proximate cause) - the defendant is liable only for the foreseeable consequences of his or her act – remoteness (“Was the chain of causation broken?”)

D) Damage  provable injury – a precondition for successful negligence suits  Damage may be: a) Physical (personal injury) b) Economic (pure financial loss) c) Both (financial loss of earnings consequent to a personal injury) d) Reputational (in a defamation case) e) Emotional distress

Damages  a sum of money awarded by the court for harm suffered by the plaintiff/claimant

Essential expressions to commit negligence act or omission foreseeable harm/injury to cause harm a reasonable/prudent person duty of care breach of duty to breach duty  causation - factual causation - legal causation / proximate cause  a damage = an injury  damages= compensation  to award damages a law report negligence≠ reasonableness