LAW 122 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Professional Negligence In English Law, Tort, Product Liability
17 May 2018
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Department
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Professor
INTRODUCTION TO TORTS
Tort Law: A Tort is a failure to fulfill a private obligation imposed by law
Invouluntary
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includes almost every sort of private law wrong outside of breach of contract
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Tortfeasor is a person who commits a tort
The defendant in the lawsuit
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Social Purpose: Tort law discourages people from committing private wrongs by
requiring them to compensate & restore the wronged party. --> reason why we have
tort law
An obligation in tort law is owed to a person. For instance, I owe an obligation
to you personally to not make defamatory statements about your past. That
obligation will be broken if I falsely tell your employer that you were once
convicted of theft. I will be at tortfeasor if a person has committed a tort. You
will be entitled to sue me. If you win the lawsuit, the court will hold me liable
and it will probably order me to pay damages to you
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Vicariously liability - someone else will be responsibility for your liability, usually an
employer along with yourself
Types of Tort:
Intentional
Occur when people intentionally act in certain ways
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I spit on you – and meant to do it! --> Battery
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I meant to spit on you, missed you and hit your friend! --> Battery of your
friend
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My condo building extends onto your lot without your prior
permission --> Trespass to Land
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Doesn't have to be malicious, just has to be a committed action
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Negligent
Occurs when people act carelessly
Eg. negligence, product liability, professional negligence, occupier’s
liability, nuisance
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Activity is permitted if reasonable in circumstances
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You texted while driving and rear-ended my car causing me a brain
injury = Negligence
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Strict Liability
No matter how much care you take, you are liabile for that dangerous
animal or substance
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Occurs when a person does something wrong without intending to do so
and without acting carelessly.
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Your vicious dog bit my baby --> Strict Liability for Animals
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Strict Liability torts for extraordinary dangerous activity
A tort occurs when the defendant is responsible for an especially dangerous
activity that caused harm
Transportation of Dangerous Products
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Keeping of Dangerous Animals
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Rule in Rylands v. Fletcher: rule states D can be held strictly liable for their non-
natural use of land if something escapes from their property and injures P
requires special (or possibly special and unusual) danger; an escape from
D’s land; that causes P to suffer loss. Doesn’t matter how carefully D
acted.
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Limited defenses and tough to prove them - P consent; 3P or natural force
cause; inevitable result of D’s statutorily authorized act.
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P is plaintiff and D is defendant
Intentional Tort: Trespass to land
Does not need to be intent to harm, just the intent to act
Tort: Trespass to Land
Test: Intentional interference with land
Elements of Test for Trespass
Intentional Act
Causing person or object to interfere with land
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Plain Language Examples
Intent to build a fence, whether or not you knew it was on my land (tort of
trespass to land)
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Retail Context (you are bothering my other customers, I tell you to leave, you
refuse – text, notes 40-42, page 92):
Intention
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Causing a person/object
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Interference
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Remedies for Trespass to Land
Damages: compensatory, nominal, or punitive •
Injunction:
Very hard to get
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Preventing ongoing trespass
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Requirement to remove trespassing structure
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Lord Westbury - Isenburg v East India Estate House Co Ltd (1863):
court shouldn’t deliver D over to P bound hand & foot, to be made
subject to any extortionate demand P may make
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Understanding Removal and Arrest of Trespassers
Arrest of trespassers - Trespass to Property Act (Ont)
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Use of reasonable force in arrest
R v Assante-Mensah (2003 SCC) – Intelligarde security guard co.
case: occupier must use reasonable force in making arrest –
excessive force or improper use of arrest power leave occupier
open to criminal charges & civil liability
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Effects of Vicarious Liability
Company will be held liable even if they didn’t do anything tortious:
Victim can sue both employee and employer for their torts(entitled to sue
both):
Employees are directly liable for their own tort (personal)
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Employer may also be directly liable if it committed a separate and
independent tort – e.g. careless training of careless employee
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Vicarious Liability is Different
ER may be vicariously liable for EE tort – ie ER is held liable for the EE’s
tort – this is so P doesn’t have to face an impecunious D
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Employer Not Vicariously Liable If:
Employer is not vicariously liable for independent contractors (non-
employees) – BUT, be cautious, court can read behind K
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Employee tort occurred completely outside the employment relationship •
Day 2
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
11:50 AM
Document Summary
Tort law: a tort is a failure to fulfill a private obligation imposed by law. Invouluntary includes almost every sort of private law wrong outside of breach of contract. Tortfeasor is a person who commits a tort. Social purpose: tort law discourages people from committing private wrongs by requiring them to compensate & restore the wronged party. An obligation in tort law is owed to a person. For instance, i owe an obligation to you personally to not make defamatory statements about your past. That obligation will be broken if i falsely tell your employer that you were once convicted of theft. I will be at tortfeasor if a person has committed a tort. If you win the lawsuit, the court will hold me liable and it will probably order me to pay damages to you. Vicariously liability - someone else will be responsibility for your liability, usually an employer along with yourself.
