BLAW 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Safeway Inc., Statutory Law, Sucker Punch
Document Summary
Tort of negligence was largely a common law creation. Effect of statute has been to limit the scope of potential liability for negligence by: Modifying common law principles (duty / breach / damage) Restricting plaintiff"s rights to recover in particular categories eg. professionals / volunteers / public authorities. Placing caps on general or non-economic damages and for loss of future earnings. Statutory law can modify the common law. Despite statutory reforms, principles remain mostly the same and plaintiffs still have to prove duty, breach and damage. Avoid acts or omissions which you can reasonably foresee would be likely to injure and don"t fail to do things necessary to prevent people from getting hurt. If the injury is not foreseeable and there is no neighbour test, liability is too broad. Duty of care and acts causing physical harm (physical harm) Owe a duty not to poison customers. Owe a duty to not cause customers severe rashes.
