AJ 025 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Contributory Negligence, Damages, Punitive Damages

• School: College of The Sequoias
• Department: Administration of Justice (AJ)
• Course: AJ 025
• Professor: shirk

Document Summary

Committed tort = plaintiff must have suffered a legally recognizable injury: plaintiff must have suffered loss, harm, wrong or invasion of a protected interest to recover damages. Tort law = compensation: compensatory damages are the norm in negligence cases, punitive damages only if defendant"s conduct was grossly negligent. Defenses to negligence: defendants often defend against negligence claims by asserting that the plaintiffs failed to prove the existence of one or more of the required elements for negligence. Three basic affirmative defenses (defenses that a defendant can use to avoid liability even if the facts are as the plaintiff states): assumption of risk, superseding cause, contributory and comparative negligence. Assumption of risk: a defense to negligence that bars a plaintiff from recovering for injuries or damage suffered as a result of risks they knew of and voluntarily assumed. Two elements: knowledge of the risk, voluntary assumption of the risk.