CHAPTER 5 Civil Law and Procedure

CHAPTER 5Civil Law and Procedure 5-1 Private Injuries vs. Public Offenses 5-2 Intentional Torts, Negligence, and Strict Liability 5-3 Civil Procedure

5-1 Private Injuries vs. Public Offenses GOALS • Distinguish a crime from a tort • Identify the elements of torts • Explain why one person may be responsible for another’s tort Chapter 5

CRIME versus TORT • What is a crime? • A crime is a punishable offense against society • It is a public wrong • What is a tort? • A private or civil wrong • An offense against an individual • If someone commits a tort, the person injured as a result can sue and obtain a judgment for damages. • A monetary award to compensate for the loss caused by a tort Chapter 5

CRIMES Larceny Receiving stolen property False pretenses Forgery Bribery Computer crime Extortion Conspiracy Arson TORTS • Assault • Battery • False imprisonment • Defamation • Invasion of privacy • Trespass to land • Conversion • Interference with contractual relations • Fraud

What's Your Verdict? To support his family and still pursue a college education, JJ worked for a delivery service from 3:30am until his college classes began at 9am every weekday morning He then student taught as a basketball coach after classes. Returning home each evening he would care for his children until his wife finished her workday at 10pm. Early one morning, JJ fell asleep at the wheel of the delivery truck and crashed it into an oncoming car. JJ and the other driver, Shirley were seriously injured and the vehicles were “totaled.” Does JJ’s conduct represent a criminal or civil wrong or both? Chapter 3 Slide 5

ELEMENTS OF A …. TORT CRIME • Duty • Violation of the duty • Criminal Intent • Duty-a legal obligation to do or not to do something • Breach-Violation of the duty • Injury- a harm that is recognized by the law • Causation- proof that the breach caused the injury Chapter 5

DUTY… CRIMINAL LAW A legal obligation to do or not to do something CIVIL LAW • Were you aware of your duty? • Its everyone’s duty to know the law and to conform his or her conduct to the law’s requirements • The duty not to injure another (body, reputation, property, invasion of privacy) • The duty not to interfere with the property rights of other (trespassing) • The duty not to interfere with the economic rights of others Chapter 5

BREACH-VIOLATION OF THE DUTY CIVIL LAW • Intentional torts • Tort in which the defendant means to commit the injurious act • Negligence • Most common, based on carelessness (NOT intentional) • Strict Liability • Holding a defendant liable without a showing of negligence CRIMINAL LAW • Whether you performed an act or omission in violation of that duty Chapter 5

CIVIL LAW • Two elements that need to be present • Injury • Causation CRIMINAL LAW • Third and final element is CRIMINAL INTENT • The defendant 1) intended to commit the act and 2) intended to do evil Chapter 5

INJURY CAUSATION • Breach of duty caused the injury • Proximate cause • Exists when it is reasonably foreseeable that a breach of duty will result in an injury. A harm that is recognized by the law Generally, injury resulting from the breach of duty must be proved. If you act recklessly, but no one is injured, there usually is no tort. Chapter 5 Slide 10

What's Your Verdict? On a windy autumn day, Mason was burning dry leaves in his backyard. When he went inside to answer a telephone call, flames from the fire leaped to the next-door neighbor’s fence and then to a tool shed where a small can of gasoline exploded. Soon the neighbor’s house was ablaze, and it burned to the ground. Did Mason commit a tort? Chapter 3 Slide 11

RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANOTHER’S TORTS With few exceptions, all persons, including minors are personally responsible for their conduct and are therefore liable for their torts. Even children or insane persons may be held liable for injuring others. When one person is liable for the torts of another, the liability is called vicarious liability. Chapter 5 Slide 12

Vicarious Liability • Vicarious Liability - Legal doctrine by which one party is held liable for the torts of another. • Parents may be liable if they give their children ‘dangerous instrumentalities’, such as guns, without proper instruction. • Parents may be liable for their children’s continuing dangerous habits (Child continues to throw rocks at trains and vehicles and the parents do not stop them). • In some state parents are liable, by statute, up to a specified amount of money for property damaged by their minor children. (Vandalism and malicious destruction of school property) • Most states also provide that parents are liable, up to the limits of financial responsibility laws, for damages negligently caused by their children while operating motor vehicles. Chapter 5

What's Your Verdict? Hunt was taking riding lessons from Saddleback Stables. Patterson, the Saddleback instructor, was a skilled rider although only 15 years old. Nevertheless, during a lesson while leading the horse Hunt was riding, Patterson negligently dropped the bridle. As a result, the horse bolted and Hunt was throw to the ground and injured. Who was liable for Hunt’s injuries? Chapter 3 Slide 14

Review • Distinguish a crime from a tort • A crime is an offense against society; a public wrong. A tort is a private or civil wrong; an offense against an individual. • Identify the elements of torts • The elements of torts are: (1) duty, (2) violation of duty, (3) injury, and (4) causation. Chapter 5

Review • Explain why one person may be responsible for another’s tort • When one person is responsible for another person’s tort the liability is called vicarious liability. Parents may be liable if they give their children “dangerous instrumentalities,” such as guns, without proper instruction. A parent also may be held liable for their children’s continuing dangerous habits. If a child continues to throw rocks at trains and vehicles, the parents may be liable if they fail to stop the child’s behavior. Chapter 5

5-2 Intentional Torts, Negligence, and Strict Liability GOALS • Identify common intentional torts • Recognize the elements of negligence • Explain the basis for strict liability Chapter 5

FOCUS • What things are unique about intentional torts? • The intent to inflict, not just perform an act, of one sort or another and the availability of punitive damages. • Distinguish between the nature of intent when one is playing a contact sport and when they would be acting in an intentionally tortuous manner. Chapter 5

WHAT ARE THE MOST COMMON INTENTIONAL TORTS? • Assault • Battery • False imprisonment • Defamation • Invasion of privacy • Trespass to land • Conversion • Interference with contractual relations • Fraud Chapter 5

ASSAULT • Assault occurs when one person intentionally puts another in reasonable fear of an offensive or harmful bodily contact. • Threats can be made with words or gestures. • Threatened injury can be physical: a person may raise a fist threatening to punch you. Chapter 5

BATTERY • Harmful or offensive touching • Punching, pushing in anger, spitting, or throwing a pie in another’s face • Angrily raising a clenched fist and then striking someone in the faces involved first an assault and then a battery. • When the victim is hit without warning from behind, there is no assault. • There is no battery if the contact is not intentional. • Self-defense • Consent to offensive touching (boxing match) Chapter 5

FALSE IMPRISONMENT • Depriving a person of freedom of movement without consent and without privilege • Handcuffed; locked in a room, car, or jail; told in a threatening way to stay in one place; or otherwise denied their liberty. • When the police have probable cause to arrest people, they are privileged to imprison them. • Merchants in many states have a privilege to detain a person if they have reasonable basis for believing the person was shoplifting. Chapter 5

DEFAMATION • False statement that injures one’s reputation • Slander: if the defamation is spoken • Liable: if the defamation is written or printed. • To be legally defamatory, the statement must be: • False (truth is a complete defense) • Communicated to a third party (your reputation is not harmed if no other person hears or reads the lie) • Bring the victim into disrepute, contempt, or ridicule by others Chapter 5

DEFAMATION Cont. • In slander suits, you must show that you have suffered an actual physical loss or damages, as a result of the slanderous remark. • Judges, lawyers, jurors, witnesses, and other parties in judicial proceedings are immune from liability for statements made during the actual trial or hearing. Chapter 5

INVASION OF PRIVACY • Unwelcome and unlawful intrusion into one’s private life so as to cause outrage, mental suffering, or humiliation. • “The right of privacy is a personal and fundamental right protected by the Constitution of the United States.” • Illegal eavesdropping by any listening device, interference with telephone calls, and unauthorized opening of letters and telegrams. Chapter 5

TRESPASS TO LAND • To be on the land of another without right or permission of the owner • Dumping rubbish on the land of another or breaking the windows of a neighbor’s house are also trespass. • If a person is thrown onto another’s land, there would be no intent and not trespass. • If a person thought she was waling on her own property, but was mistaken, there would be a trespass because she intended to be there. Chapter 5

CONVERSION • Using property in a manner inconsistent with the owner’s rights • A thief is always a converter. • Conversion occurs even when the converter does not know that there is a conversion. • The innocent buyer of stolen goods is a converter. Chapter 5

INTERFERENCE WITH CONTRACTUAL REALTIONS • Enticing or encouraging a person to break a contract • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWrS4Jg46tY Chapter 5

FRAUD • Intentional misrepresentation of an existing, important fact • A lie • Ordinarily a statement of opinion is not considered fraudulent. This is because the hearer should recognize that the statement is the speaker’s personal view. Chapter 5

WHAT CONSTITUTES NEGLIGENCE? • Negligence: • Most common tort based on carelessness Chapter 5

DUTY IMPOSED BY NEGLIGENCE • Acts with care, prudence, and good judgment of a reasonable person so as not to cause injury to others. • Children are only required to act with the care that a reasonable child of like age, intelligence, and experience would act. • If a child undertakes an adult activity, such as driving a boat or a car, the child is held to the adult standards. • Professional and skilled tradesperson are held to a higher degree of care in their work. Chapter 5

BREACH OF DUTY • Breach the duty of a “reasonable-person” standards. • Example: • A reasonable person would only drive a car at a safe speed, not intoxicated, and only at night with the lights on. If they breach the “reasonable-person” standards, they could be found guilty. Chapter 5

CAUSATION AND INJURY • The violation of the duty must be the proximate cause of the injury. Chapter 5

DEFENSES TO NEGLIGENCE • In several states a plaintiff cannot recover for loss caused by another’s negligence if the plaintiff also was negligent. – contributory negligence. • Comparative negligence applied when a plaintiff in a negligence action is partially at fault. • Assumption of the risk is where a plaintiffs are aware of a danger, but decide to subject themselves to the risk. Chapter 5

WHY IS STRICT LIABILITY NECESSARY? • Strict Liability: • Holding a defendant liable without a showing of negligence • Engaging in abnormally dangerous activities such as target practice, blasting, crop dusting with dangerous chemicals, or storing flammable liquids in large quantities. • Owning dangerous animals • Selling unreasonably dangerous goods Chapter 5

Review • Identify common intentional torts • Recognize the elements of negligence • Explain the basis for strict liability Chapter 5

5-3 Civil Procedure GOALS • State the legal remedies that are available to a tort victim • Describe the procedure used to try a civil case • Explain how civil damages are collected Chapter 5

REMEDIES AVAILABLE IN A CIVIL SUIT • Injunction • A court order for a person to do or not do a particular act • Damages • Damages: Monetary award to the injured party to compensate for loss • Actual or Compensatory damages: amount of money awarded to compensate for a plaintiff’s loss • Contingency fee: % of damages awarded to the plaintiff which is used to pay the lawyers fee. • Pain and suffering is hard to place a dollar value – usually amount is decided by jury and recommended by the judge using past practice. Chapter 5

WHAT PROCEDURE IS USED TO TRY A CIVIL CASE? • Judge or jury • Opening statements and testimony • Evidence: anything that the judge allows to be presented to the jury that helps to prove or disprove the alleged facts • Testimony: statements made by witnesses under oath • Witnesses (expert witness): someone who has personal knowledge of the facts. • Subpoena: Written order by the judge commanding a witness to appear and give testimony • Closing arguments and instructions to the jury • Jury deliberation and the verdict • Verdict: Jury’s decision • Judgment: the final result of the trial – normally will be for a sum of money Chapter 5

HOW ARE CIVIL DAMAGES COLLECTED? • Defendant is ordered to pay • Writ of execution • The process by which a judgment for money is enforced. • The court directs that the defendant’s property (savings account, car, proceeds from a book) be seized or sold. Chapter 5

Review • State the legal remedies that are available to a tort victim • Describe the procedure used to try a civil case • Explain how civil damages are collected Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5 Civil Law and Procedure