BU231 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Contributory Negligence, Partial Defence, Product Liability
Document Summary
Contributory negligence (statutory defence) a partial defence to a negligence action when the plaintiff"s conduct also contributed to the injury loss will be apportioned according to degree of fault. Example: getting into a car with a drunk driver when you"re aware of his condition would make you partially responsible. Voluntary assumption of risk (complete defence) a defence to a negligence action when the plaintiff was aware of the risk and continued with the activity anyway. Failure to mitigate (partial defence) duty to act reasonably and quickly to minimize the extent of the damage suffered. Product liability a tort imposing liability on manufacturers for harm caused by defective products. Burden of proof plaintiffs in most tort actions must prove all the elements of the cause of action. However in product liability cases, the plaintiff often doesn"t know why or how it happened. Duty to warn owed to consumers of the product by the manufacturers.
