CHAPTER 14

Tort Law and Product Liability,

14-1
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

14-2
The Basis of Tort Law
• Wrongs and Compensation
• One Person or Group Brings Suit against Another
– Obtain compensation (money damages)
– Other relief for harm suffered
• 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

14-3
Intentional Torts
• Requires Intent
• Tortfeasor: The Person Accused
– Intended the consequences of an act
– Knew or should have known that certain consequences
would result from an act
• Fall into Two Categories
– Against persons
– Against property

14-4
Intentional Torts
• Intentional Torts against Persons
– Assault
• Act intended to cause an apprehension of harmful or offensive
contact
• Act caused apprehension in the victim that harmful or offensive
contact is imminent

14-5
Intentional Torts
• Intentional Torts against Persons
– Battery
• An intent to cause an unwanted contact
• The unwanted harmful contact
• Compensation
• Defenses to assault and battery
– Consent
– Self-defense
– Defense of others
– Defense of property

14-6
Intentional Torts
• 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
• Outrageous conduct by the defendant
• Intent
• Severe emotional distress suffered by the plaintiff with the emotional
distress being caused by the defendant’s conduct

14-7
Intentional Torts
• Intentional Torts against Persons
– Defamation
• Wrongfully harming a person’s good reputation
– Slander: breaching this duty orally
– Libel: breaching this duty in writing
• The publication requirement
• Defenses against defamation
– Truth
– Privileged communications
– Made without actual malice

14-8
Intentional Torts
• 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 seclusion
• Publication of information that places person in false light
• Public disclosure of private facts about individual that ordinary person
would find objectionable

14-9
Intentional Torts
• Intentional Torts against Persons
– Appropriation
• Use by one person of another person’s name, likeness, or other
identifying characteristic without permission and for the benefit of the
user

14-10
Intentional Torts
• Intentional Torts against Persons
– Misrepresentation (fraud)
• Intentional deceit for personal gain
• Elements of fraud
– Misrepresentation of facts or conditions with knowledge that they are false or with
reckless disregard for the truth
– 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

14-11
Intentional Torts
• Intentional Torts against Persons
– Wrongful interference
• 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

14-12
Intentional Torts
• Intentional Torts against Persons
– Wrongful interference
• Wrongful interference with a business relationship
– 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

14-13
Intentional Torts
• Intentional Torts against Property
– Trespass to land
• Trespass criteria, rights, and duties
• Defenses against trespass to land
– Trespass to personal property
– Conversion

14-14
Negligence
• Negligence occurs when someone suffers injury because of
another’s failure to live up to required duty of care
• Elements
– Defendant owed a duty of care
– Defendant breached that duty
– Plaintiff suffered a legally recognizable injury
– Defendant’s breach caused the injury suffered

14-15
Negligence
• 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
• Medical malpractice
• Legal malpractice

14-16
Negligence
• The Injury Requirement and Damages
– Legally recognizable injury
– Clearly establish a basis for recovery
– Compensatory damages
• Compensate or reimburse for actual losses
– Punitive damages
• Punish the wrongdoer and deter others from similar wrongdoing

14-17
Negligence
• Causation
– Wrongful activity must have caused harm
– Court must address two questions
• Is there causation in fact?
• Was the act the proximate cause of the injury?
– Both must be answered in the affirmative for liability in a tort
to arise

14-18
Negligence
• Defenses to Negligence
– Assumption of risk
• Plaintiff voluntarily enters into a risky situation, knowing the risk
– Superseding cause
• Unforeseeable intervening event may break the 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

14-19
Negligence
• Special Negligence Doctrines and Statutes
– Negligence per se
• Action or failure to act in violation of statutory requirement
– Special negligence statutes
• Good Samaritan statutes
• Dram shop acts

14-20
 Cyber Torts:
Defamation Online
• Liability of Internet Service Providers
– Communications Decency Act
– Internet service providers are not liable for defamatory
statements
• Piercing the Veil of Anonymity
– 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

14-21
Strict Liability
• Liability Is Imposed for Reasons Other Than Fault
• Abnormally Dangerous Activities
– Potential harm of a serious nature to persons and property
– Involves a high degree of risk
– Not commonly performed in the community or area
• Basis of Liability
– The creation of an extraordinary risk

14-22
Product Liability
• Theories of Product Liability
– Product liability based on negligence
• Manufacturer fails to exercise due care to make product safe
– Product liability based on misrepresentation
• Manufacturer or seller misrepresents quality, nature, or appropriate
use of a product
– Strict product liability
• Manufacturing defects
• Design defects
• Warning defects

14-23
Product Liability
• Defenses to Product Liability
– No duty to warn against obvious or commonly
– known risks
– Assumption of risk
– Product misuse
– Comparative negligence

14-24
Summary
• 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 negligence.
• Intentional torts occur when the actor intended to perform an
act that resulted in an injury to a protected right of another
party

14-25
Summary
• 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 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.

14-26
Summary
• The makers of products can be liable for injuries and
damages caused by defective products.
• Statutes, agency rules, and common law judicial decisions
that serve to protect the interests of consumers are classified
as consumer law.