Tort Law

and
Product
Liability.

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Introduction
• Torts are wrongful actions
• Through tort law, society seeks to
compensate those who have suffered
injuries as a result of the wrongful conduct
of others
• Product liability is a major area of tort
law under which sellers can be held liable
for defective products
• A growing body of law is designed to
protect the health and safety and the
credit of consumers

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 • Wrongs and Compensation
• One Person or Group Brings Suit against
Another
The Basis of • Obtain compensation (money damages)
• Other relief for harm suffered
Tort Law • Purpose of Tort Law Is to Provide Remedies
• Invasion of protected interests or rights
• Elements of a Tort
• Points that plaintiff must prove to succeed

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Intentional Requires Intent

Torts
Intended the
consequences of an act
Tortfeasor: The Person
Accused
Knew or should have
known that certain
consequences would
result from an act

Against persons

Fall into Two

Categories

Against property

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 • Intentional Torts against Persons
Intentional • Assault
• Act intended to cause an apprehension of harmful or
Torts offensive contact
• Act caused apprehension in the victim that harmful or
offensive contact is imminent

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 • Intentional Torts against Persons
• Battery
• An intent to cause an unwanted contact
• The unwanted harmful contact
Intentional • Compensation
•
Torts Defenses to assault and battery
• Consent
• Self-defense
• Defense of others
• Defense of property

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 • Intentional Torts against Persons
• False Imprisonment
• Intent to confine or restrain a person
• Actual confinement in boundaries not
of the plaintiff’s choosing
• Intentional Infliction of Emotional
Distress
Intentional Torts • Outrageous conduct by the defendant
• Intent
• Severe emotional distress suffered by
the plaintiff with the emotional
distress being caused by the
defendant’s conduct

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 • Intentional Torts against Persons
• Defamation
• Wrongfully harming a person’s good
reputation
• Slander: breaching this duty orally
• Libel: breaching this duty in writing
Intentional • The publication requirement

Torts • Defenses against defamation

• Truth
• Privileged communications
• Made without actual malice

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• Intentional Torts against Persons
• Invasion of the right to privacy
• Use of person’s name, picture, or
likeness for commercial purposes
without permission
• Intrusion into person’s affairs or
Intentional
seclusion
• Publication of information that places
Torts
person in false light
• Public disclosure of private facts about
individual that ordinary person would
find objectionable

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 • Intentional Torts against Persons
• Appropriation
• Use by one person of another person’s
name, likeness, or other identifying
Intentional characteristic without permission and for
the benefit of the user
Torts

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 • Intentional Torts against Persons
• Misrepresentation (fraud)
• Intentional deceit for personal gain
• Elements of fraud
Intentional • Misrepresentation of facts or conditions with knowledge that
they are false or with reckless disregard for the truth
Torts • Intent to induce another to rely on the misrepresentation
• Justifiable reliance by the deceived party
• Damages suffered as a result of the reliance
• Causal connection between the misrepresentation and the harm
suffered
• Fact versus opinion

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Intentional • Intentional Torts against Persons
• Wrongful interference
Torts • Wrongful interference with a
contractual relationship
• Valid, enforceable contract
exists between two parties
• Third party knows that this
contract exists
• Third party intentionally
causes either of the two
parties to breach the
contract

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 • Intentional Torts against Persons
• Wrongful interference
Intentional • Wrongful interference with a business relationship

Torts • Defendant knew or had reason to know that a third

party and the plaintiff are in a business relationship
• Defendant intentionally interfered in the relationship
• Defenses to wrongful interference

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 • Intentional Torts against Property
• Trespass to land
• Trespass criteria, rights, and duties
• Defenses against trespass to land
Intentional • Trespass to personal property
Torts • Conversion

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 Negligence occurs when someone
suffers injury because of another’s
failure to live up to required duty of
care

Negligence

Elements
Plaintiff suffered
Defendant Defendant’s
Defendant owed a legally
breached that breach caused the
a duty of care recognizable
duty injury suffered
injury

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 • The Duty of Care and Its Breach
• Reasonable person standard
• The duty of property owners
• Duty to business invitees
• Open and obvious risks
• The duty of professionals
Negligence • Medical malpractice
• Legal malpractice

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 • The Injury Requirement and Damages
• Legally recognizable injury
• Clearly establish a basis for recovery
• Compensatory damages
• Compensate or reimburse for actual losses
• Punitive damages
Negligence • Punish the wrongdoer and deter others from
similar wrongdoing

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 • Causation
• Wrongful activity must have caused
harm
• Court must address two questions
• Is there causation in fact?
Negligence • Was the act the proximate cause of the
injury?
• Both must be answered in the
affirmative for liability in a tort to
arise

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 • Defenses to Negligence
• Assumption of risk
• Plaintiff voluntarily enters into a risky situation,
knowing the risk
• Superseding cause
• Unforeseeable intervening event may break the
Negligence connection between wrongful act and injury to
another
• Contributory and comparative negligence
• Contributory: plaintiff was also negligent
• Comparative: liability for injuries is shared
proportionately by all parties who were guilty of
negligence

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 • Special Negligence Doctrines and Statutes
• Negligence per se
• Action or failure to act in violation of statutory
Negligence requirement
• Special negligence statutes
• Good Samaritan statutes
• Dram shop acts

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 Cyber Torts:
Defamation Online

Liability of Internet Service Piercing the Veil of Anonymity

Providers
Communications Decency Act
Internet service providers are not liable for
defamatory statements
ISPs can disclose personal information about
their customers only when ordered by a court
Rights of plaintiffs are balanced against
defendants’ rights to free speech

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 Strict Liability

Liability Is Imposed for Reasons Abnormally Dangerous Activities Basis of Liability

Other Than Fault
Potential harm of a serious nature to persons and The creation of an extraordinary risk
property
Involves a high degree of risk
Not commonly performed in the community or
area

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 • Theories of Product Liability
• Product liability based on negligence
• Manufacturer fails to exercise due care to make
product safe
Product • Product liability based on misrepresentation
• Manufacturer or seller misrepresents quality, nature,
Liability or appropriate use of a product
• Strict product liability
• Manufacturing defects
• Design defects
• Warning defects

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 • Defenses to Product Liability
• No duty to warn against obvious or
commonly
• known risks
Product • Assumption of risk
Liability • Product misuse
• Comparative negligence

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 Two notions serve as the basis of all torts:
wrongs and compensation.

A tort is a civil wrong. Torts fall into two

broad classifications: intentional torts and
Summary negligence.

Intentional torts occur when the actor

intended to perform an act that resulted in an
injury to a protected right of another party

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 Negligence is the careless performance of a
legally required duty or the failure to perform a
legally required act.

General tort principles are extended to cover

Summary cyber torts, or torts that occur in cyberspace,
such as online defamation.

Under the doctrine of strict liability, a person

or company may be held liable for damages or
injuries caused by a product or activity.

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 The makers of products can be liable
for injuries and damages caused by
defective products.

Summary
Statutes, agency rules, and common
law judicial decisions that serve to
protect the interests of consumers are
classified as consumer law.