LECTURE ON TORTS

NOVEMBER 29, 2009

Q

What is the TEST if there is cause of action in TORT?

1.
2.
3.
4.

Legal right of plaintiff;

Legal obligation of defendant;
Wrong (e.g. act or omission) done to plaintiff;
Damage or injury to plaintiff

Does moral right or obligation constitute as basis in tort?

NO, what is contemplated by law is between legal right and legal duty;

Does Assumption of Gratuitous Undertaking constitute as basis in tort?

NO, only when the other relies on it; the performance was begun but
stopped and the other is placed in a worse position than he was in,
before the services were started.

Does lawful exercise of a right result in tortious liability?

NO, unless the manner of the exercise becomes unlawful.

Q
Is refusal of a person to do an act which he is not legally bound to do
tortious?
NO, the province is moral.
Q

Does a duty to avoid harm to others be a basis for tort?

YES. If that duty is not done; or if done but negligently or wrongfully;
and the act or omission results in damage to the recipient of such act.

Does tortious liability arise from purely accidental injuries or

involuntary conduct?
NO, in the face of towering emergency.

Is privity between the wrong and the injury essential in tort?

YES. Exception: where the wrong is the PROXIMATE CAUSE of the injury.

APPLICATION OF PROXIMATE CAUSE:

STRICTLY, in negligence cases.
LIBERALLY, if intentional.

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Q

APPLICATION OF WILLFUL (VOLUNTARY) ACTS WITHOUT INTENT TO

INJURE:
If such act causes injury = TORTIOUS.
If there is intervening causes = DEFENSE

APPLICATION OF UNLAWFUL ACTS WITHOUT INTENT TO INJURE:

If such act causes injury = TORTIOUS .
If there is intervening causes = NO DEFENSE

What is the effect of absence of other elements in tort?

Damnum absque injuria. (Damage without legal wrong)

Common in Accidental wrong and in the course of doing lawful
act.

What is the meaning of INJURY in tort?

Damage resulting from a wrongful or unlawful act.

When does a lawful act become tortious?

When unlawful means is employed by the doer in doing the lawful act.

The measure of tort?

Conduct, not mental state (e.g. motive, purpose, intent).

TORTIOUS ACTS
1.
2.
3.
4.

Acts intended to inflict injury

Acts not intended to inflict injury
Malicious acts
Willful and Wanton Acts (intentional wrongdoing/Disregard of
rights)
5.
Willful and Wanton Negligence (intentional harm to result from the
act or omission; Reckless Disregard of security & right)
6.
Acts arising from contractual relationship
Q

TYPES OF TORTIOUS CONDUCT

1.
2.

Culpable and intentional acts producing harm

Acts involving culpable and unlawful conduct producing unintended
harm
3.
Non-culpable acts/conduct producing ACCIDENTAL HARM
4.
Culpable acts of inadvertence producing unreasonable risks of harm

TYPES OF TORTIOUS INTERFERENCE

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Interference
Interference
Interference
Interference
Interference
Interference

with
with
with
with
with
with

property rights
right to services
contractual rights
personal rights
right of inheritance or destruction of will
trade secrets, invention or patents.

DOCTRINE OF PRIMA FACIE TORT

Act done without justification which would have been lawful

Necessity of malice
Necessity of Special Damage

DOCTRINE of strict or absolute liability

This doctrine provides that the voluntary doer of an act is liable for his
action if it causes harm to another.
Basis: On intentional doing of an act or the intentional behavior in
exposing the other to abnormal risk.
Ex:

Common in Product Liability Cases or Enterprise Liability

DEFENSES IN TORT
Q

CITE CERTAIN DEFENSES IN TORT.

1.
2.

Acting in self-defense or defense of property.

Mistake (show that even a reasonable and prudent person would
do the same under a particular circumstance, that is objective
reasonableness of his conduct)
3.
Illegal transaction (doing an illegal act causal relation between
the act and the injury or damage)
4.
Necessity or self-protection
5.
Destruction of property to prevent spread of fire
6.
Consent to the act. (Volenti non fit injuria, No action can be
made for a wrong to which one has consented.)
7.
The act or wrong is not the proximate cause of the injury.
8.
Contributory negligence of plaintiff.
9.
Last Clear Chance (last clear opportunity until injury moment to
avoid the injury)
10.
Assumption of risk by plaintiff

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11.

Immunities arising from certain relationships (Spouses; Parentchild)