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Definition
| a wrongful act or omission, other than a crime or a breach of contract, for which the remedy is usually monetary damages |
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| a tort committed with intent to cause harm or with intent to do the act that causes harm |
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| the jurisdiction or place in which a party sues |
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| in a tort case, the place at which a wrong occurs |
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| Rule of significant contracts |
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Definition
| a court rule, applied in cases involving parties from different states with conflicting laws that favors the law of the state that has a greater interest |
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| the failure to exercise the degree of care that a reasonable person in a similar situation would exercise to avoid harming others |
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| an element of negligence that exists when parties are in such a relationship that the law imposes on one party the responsibility for the exercise of care toward the other party |
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| a person who intentionally enters onto the property of another without permission or any legal right to do so |
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| a person who has permission to enter onto another’s property for his or her own purposes |
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| a person who enters onto another’s property upon invitation for the benefit of the owner or for their mutual benefit |
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| a standard for the degree of care exercised in a situation that is measured by what a reasonably cautious person would or would not do under similar circumstances |
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| a deliberate performance or nonperformance of an act with knowledge or reason to know that harm to another will probably result |
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| the event that sets in motion an uninterrupted chain of events leading to a loss |
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| a rule used to determine if a defendant’s act was the proximate cause of a plaintiff’s harm based on the determination that the plaintiff’s harm could not have occurred but for the defendant’s act |
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Definition
| a rule used to determine proximate cause when two parties’ acts coincide to cause a loss by determining which act is the substantial factor in causing the harm |
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Definition
| a rule used to determine proximate cause when a plaintiff’s harm is the natural and probable consequence of the defendant’s wrongful act and when an ordinarily reasonable person would have foreseen the harm |
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| an act, independent of an original act and not readily foreseeable, that breaks the chain of causation and sets a new change of events in motion that cause harm |
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| the proximate cause resulting when two or more independent causes combine to produce harm |
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Definition
| an act that is considered inherently negligent as a matter of law |
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Definition
| a legal doctrine that provides that, in some circumstances, negligence is inferred simply by an accident’s having occurred |
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Definition
| the control of only one person or entity; in tort law the control by the defendant alone of an instrument that caused harm |
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Definition
| a concept holding one party responsible for another’s negligence by virtue of the relationship between the two parties |
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| Imputed contributory negligence |
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Definition
| at common law, the plaintiff’s imputed responsibility for the defendant’s negligence |
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| a legal responsibility that occurs when one party is held liable for the actions of a subordinate or an associate because of the relationship between the two parties |
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| the act of leaving a dangerous article with a person who the lender knows, or should know, it likely to use it in an unreasonably risky manner |
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| Dangerous instrumentality doctrine |
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Definition
| a legal doctrine in which a parent is liable for negligently permitting a child to obtain or use a dangerous instrumentality that harms a third party |
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Definition
| a parent’s liability for failing to exercise reasonable control and supervision over his or her child |
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Definition
| a common-law defense that prevents a person who has been harmed from recovering damages if that person contributed in any way to his or her own harm |
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Definition
| a defense to negligence that apportions damages to the respective degree of fault when both the plaintiff and the defendant are at fault |
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| Pure comparative negligence rule |
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Definition
| a comparative negligence rule that allows the plaintiff to recover damages diminished by his or her proportion of fault, however substantial that fault might be |
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Term
| 50 percent comparative negligence rule |
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Definition
| a comparative negligence rule that permits a plaintiff to recover reduced damages so long as the plaintiff’s negligence is not greater than 50 percent of the total negligence leading to harm |
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Term
| 49 percent comparative negligence rule |
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Definition
| a comparative negligence rule that permits a plaintiff to recover reduced damages so long as the plaintiff’s negligence is less than the other party’s negligence |
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Term
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Definition
| a rule of comparative negligence that permits the plaintiff to recover only when the plaintiff’s negligence is slight in comparison with the other party’s gross negligence |
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| Last clear chance doctrine |
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Definition
| a defense to negligence that hold the party who has the last clear chance to avoid harm and fails to do so solely responsible for the harm |
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| Assumption-of-risk defense |
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Definition
| a defense to negligence that bars a plaintiff’s recovery for harm caused by the defendant’s negligence if the plaintiff voluntarily incurred the risk of harm |
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| Sovereign, or governmental, immunity |
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Definition
| a defense to negligence that protects the federal government against lawsuits for tort without its consent |
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Definition
| a local government’s act that could be performed by a private enterprise |
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Definition
| a secured interest in real property based on a stipulation that the seller will not transfer title to the property until payment of a certain percentage of the price |
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Term
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Definition
| an act that can be performed only by government |
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Term
| Objective reasonableness standard |
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Definition
| a local government’s qualified immunity from negligence lawsuits for actions that were reasonable under the circumstances |
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Term
| Administrative, or discretionary, act |
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Definition
| an act that an official has discretion to perform or not perform |
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Term
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Definition
| an act that is directed by law or other authority and that requires no individual judgment or discretion about whether or how to perform it |
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| Quasi-governmental theory |
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Definition
| a theory that extents governmental immunity from lawsuits to charities that have assumed some governmental responsibilities |
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Term
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Definition
| a theory that extends immunity from lawsuits to charities because they hold donated funds in trust to spend for charitable purposes, not to pay tort claims |
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Definition
| a defense to negligence that grants immunity to one spouse from the other spouse’s lawsuit for torts committed before, during, and after the marriage |
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Definition
| a defense to negligence that grants immunity to parents from their children’s lawsuits for torts |
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| Hold-harmless, or indemnity |
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Definition
| a contractual provision obligating one party to assume another party’s legal liability in the event of a specified loss |
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Definition
| the unreasonable, unwarranted, or unlawful use of property that interferes with another’s enjoyment of, or right to, his or her property |
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| Attractive nuisance doctrine |
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Definition
| a doctrine treating a child as a licensee, or guest, rather than a trespasser on land containing an artificial and harmful condition that is certain to attract children |
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Definition
| the oral or written permission to enter onto another’s land to do a certain act, but not the granting of any interest in the land itself |
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Definition
| the permission to enter onto another’s land arising out of a relationship between the party who enters the land and the owner |
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Definition
| a person invited to enter onto land as a member of the general public for a purpose for which the land is open to the public |
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Definition
| a person invited to enter onto land for a purpose connected with the business conducted on the premises |
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