tort law

part1

outlines

• Tort law is a response to the problem of injuries like these
  • Tort law allows someone injured to seek monetary damages from someone who causes an injury
• American tort law is part of our common law. It is typically distinguished from other areas of common law, most notably from contract law, from property law, and criminal law.
• We use the term tort action to refer to a civil lawsuit based on a claim that someone has violated judge made rules or closely related civil statutes that serve as precedent and authority for adjudicating private disputes.
• American tort law is embedded in an adversary system of procedural justice
  • The adversary system relies upon the use of non-expert juries to adjudicate facts, and upon professional lawyers to bring and defend claims before professional judges and to negotiate settlements.
• Substantive tort law is private law made by judges and modified from time to time by state statutes. Tort law empowers victims of injury to receive justice from those whom judges and juries consider responsible for their injuries.
  • Corrective justice is a justice that seeks to redress wrongs by placing the injured person back in the situation he or she was before they were injured, the status quo ante, as we say in Latin.
• Tort law is not just about corrective justice. Judges have recognized other aims of tort liability. These variously include deterring careless and aggressive behavior, punishing recklessness and malice, encouraging insurance, and forcing businesses to internalize their costs.
  • American tort law consists of a very, very large number of judge made rules and principles. But there is much commonality in state common law.
• Tort law changes. Judges can change the rules. One of the distinctive features of the rules and principles of U.S. tort law is a decided preference for imposing liability only where someone is at fault.
• American law recognizes three main categories of tort liability corresponding to three broad sources of injury.
  • One, injuries stemming from intentional acts.
  • Two, injuries stemming from negligent acts.
  • And three, injuries stemming from dangerous activities or defective consumer products.