Res Ipsa Loquitur
This Latin phrase, meaning "the thing speaks for itself," allows a plaintiff to make a case based on circumstantial evidence.
What is Res Ipsa Loquitur?
The test for cause in fact used when there is only one defendant, asking if the harm would have occurred without the defendant's negligence.
What is the "But For" test?
The most common test for proximate cause, asking whether a reasonable person would have anticipated the accident.
What is the Foreseeability test?
The landmark case involving a package of fireworks that established the "zone of danger" concept for duty, effectively deciding the case before reaching proximate cause.
What is Palsgraf v. Long Island R.R.?
Any third-party intervention after a defendant's negligence that contributes to the plaintiff's harm.
What is an Intervening Cause?
The three requirements for res ipsa are: an accident that doesn't ordinarily occur without negligence, the instrument was in the defendant's exclusive control, and this.
What is that the plaintiff did not contribute to the accident?
The test for cause in fact used when there are two or more defendants, asking if each defendant's negligence was a significant contributor to the harm.
What is the Substantial Factor test?
Under this test, a defendant is liable for all consequences of their negligence, foreseeable or not, as long as there is an unbroken sequence.
What is the Directness test?
In this case, a dropped plank caused a spark that ignited gas vapors; the court applied the directness test to hold the defendant liable for the unforeseeable fire.
What is In re Polemis?
An unforeseeable intervening cause that is so unexpected it breaks the chain of causation and terminates the original defendant's liability.
What is a Superseding Cause?
In Larson v. St. Francis Hotel, res ipsa was not found when a guest was hit by a chair thrown from a window because the hotel lacked this.
What is exclusive control of the furniture?
A liability doctrine imposed when multiple defendants combine to inflict an indivisible harm, allowing the plaintiff to recover the full amount from any one defendant.
What is Joint and Several Liability?
The test that asks if the plaintiff was restored to a position of apparent safety before the harm occurred, cutting off liability.
What is the Beale Approach (or Wave of Danger)?
This case, which overruled Polemis, established foreseeability as the test for proximate cause, finding a defendant not liable for a fire caused by an oil spill because the fire was not a foreseeable consequence.
What is Wagon Mound No. 1?
The theft of goods from a wagon after a collision in Brower v. New York Central was deemed foreseeable, making the theft an intervening cause, not a superseding one, for this reason.
What is "because the railroad had guards on board to prevent theft"?
In most jurisdictions, res ipsa does not shift the burden of proof but merely creates this, allowing the case to get to a jury
What is a permissible inference?
In NY Central RR v. Grimstad, the plaintiff failed to show cause in fact because she could not prove that the presence of these would have saved her husband from drowning.
What are life preservers?
The Third Restatement's pro-defendant approach, which limits liability only to the type of risk that made the act negligent in the first place.
What is the Harm Within The Risk test?
The "danger invites rescue" doctrine holds that it is foreseeable that someone will be injured trying to rescue a person negligently placed in peril.
What is Wagner v. International Ry.?
This is generally considered a foreseeable consequence of a defendant's negligence that causes physical injury when a victim has to go to the hospital.
What is medical malpractice?
This famous medical malpractice case used res ipsa to shift the burden of proof to the entire surgical team when a patient woke up with an unexplained injury after an appendectomy.
What is Ybarra v. Spangard?
According to Zuchowicz v. United States, if a negligent act increases the risk of a certain harm and that harm occurs, it is enough to prove this.
What is cause in fact?
You must establish this before moving to proximate causation.
What is cause in fact?
The case where a negligently tied-up boat caused a cascade of damage, leading to a test that combines foreseeability and directness.
What is Kinsman Transit Co.?
When a speeding trolley happens to be at the exact spot a tree falls, the speeding is a cause in fact but not a proximate cause because this is not causation.
What is coincidence?