1. Found and Lost: Student Coaching Slides

2. Question 1: Negligence Define Prima Facie Case – Plaintiff’s Burden
Defenses – Defendant’s Burden

3. Prima Facie Case Conduct Duty Breach of Duty Actual (direct) Cause
Proximate (legal) Cause
Damage

4. Conduct What Did Found Do or Fail to Do in This Case?
Affirmative Action
Omission – Failure to Act

5. Duty The Concept of Duty Has Two Parts: What is the Duty?
Standard of Care:
To Act as a Reasonable Person
Can a Statute set the Standard of Care? (Library Case)
To Whom is the Duty Owed?
Foreseeable Plaintiff – Defendant Owes a Duty to Plaintiffs Who the Defendant can Foresee Will be Injured as a Result of the Defendant’s Conduct.
Can a Statute Identify the Person or Persons to Whom the Defendant Owes a Duty? (Library Case)

6. Breach of Duty Calculus of the Risk Violation of a Statute
1) Likelihood of Harm
2) Seriousness of Harm
vs.
3) Cost of Prevention and/or
4) Utility of the Activity
Violation of a Statute
Is the Violation of a Statute Considered to be a
Breach of Duty? (Library Case)

7. Negligence Per Se Define
Relation to the Prima Facie Case of Negligence
Any Light Shed on This by Library Case(s)?

8. Actual Causation Plaintiff Must Connect Conduct to the Loss
“But for” Defendant’s Conduct Plaintiff Would not Have Suffered the Loss.
Easy, Difficult, or Impossible Burden in this Case?
Why or Why Not?
Any Solution to the Dilemma? (Library Case)

9. Proximate (Legal) Causation
Policy Determination
Should Defendant Really be Responsible for Damages Actually Caused?
Natural and Probable Consequences
Did Plaintiff’s Loss Come About as a Result of a String of Weird Unforeseeable Events?

10. Damages Damages Suffered in this Case Compensatory Punitive Damages?
Define/Purpose
Out of Pocket?
Cost to Reconstruct Lost Files?
Punitive Damages?
Intentional Tort vs. Negligence

11. Question 2: Defenses Contributory Negligence Comparative Negligence
Complete Bar to Recovery
Library?
Comparative Negligence
Pure vs. Mixed

12. Question 3: Sample of 600 Past Negligence Cases
Use Normal Approximation to Binomial Distribution
Check Statistics Texts for Formulas
Confidence Interval – Confidence is Probability True Percent is Contained in Interval

13. Question 4: Expected Value
Assume No Punitive Award
Review of Expected Value:
Weighted Average of a Set of Values Where the Weights are the Probabilities of Values
Sum of Probabilities is One, Since All Possible Events Should be Considered
If All the Values are Costs, Expected Value Can be Called Expected Cost 13

14. Question 5
The Expected Value Could be Used as the Basis for a Settlement
Ethical Issues?
Strategy?
Question Open Ended