If It Was a Book Title
The Lightning Rail - a Trolley Problem
Adams v. Bullock
Liability without fault
Strict Liability
A social host to a third party has...?
No duty.
(It’s a policy judgement bc it would create problems for social hosts - Renolds v. Hicks)
B<PL: the little tug boat that couldn't.
U.S. v. Caroll Towing
If Curly Moe and Larry each throw firecracker over a wall and suddenly we hear a scream of pain...
Doctrine of Alternative Liability
The Car in the Night: Negligence Per Se
Martin v. Herzog
The 3 theories of liability
Negligence, Strict Liability, Vicarious Liability
special mention: No Liability
Landowners owe a DOC to...?
Licensees & Invitees, but not to trespassers.
(Carter v. Kinney)
A defendant is liable for all direct consequences of their negligent act, even if the precise, severe harm wasn't foreseeable.
In Re Polemis
a defense to liability
Competing Causes
Shards: Why Shower Curtains Should be the New Shower Custom
Trimarco v. Klein
The Birkner Test: Vicarious Liability
conduct be of the general kind the employee is hired to perform (the WHAT)
the employee's conduct must occur substantially within the hours and ordinary spatial boundaries of the employment (the WHEN & WHERE)
the employee's conduct must be motivated, at least in part, by the purpose of serving the employer's interest. (the WHY)
The risk was unforeseeable?
No duty.
Duty only if the crime is foreseeable to the land owner - Posecai v. Walmart
Defendant’s failure to provide lifesaving equipment was not the but-for cause of Plaintiff’s husband’s drowning.
New York Central Railroad v. Grimstad
A little victim blaming never hurt anyone
Contributory Negligence
Shallow Waters
Harper v. Herman
Common Law elements of Apparent Agency
(a) a representation by the purported principal;
(b) a reliance on that representation by a third party; and
(c) a change in position by the third party in reliance on the representation
There is no duty to control the conduct of a third person as to prevent him from causing physical harm to another unless...
Restatement Rule
A special relation exists between the actor and the third person which imposes a duty upon the actor to control the third person's conduct
OR
A special relation exists between the actor and the other which gives the other a right to protection
(Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California)
Now you need to foresee the specific harm.
Overseas Tankship v Miller Steamship (Wagon Mound Case)
IE: corporations should not be able to shrug their shoulders and foist the blame. If it could be either cause...
Multiple Sufficient Causes
Toxic Relationshipping: Why You Should Cut Out the Middleman
Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad Co. v. American Cyanamid Co.
Name 5 "abnormally dangerous" activities that are subject to strict liability.
Escaping water
Escaping animals
Explosives debris damage
Falling from the sky early aviation
Trespass to land
Do we really care if the old man falls down the stairs in a blackout? What did the court say?
Strauss v. Belle Realty Co.
It was misfeasance but too ruinous to allow liability.
We're breaking free! An unmoored ship floats downstream and bumps a second ship. They both crash into a bridge.
Kinsman Cases
And the second kinsman case is about contractual damages w grain that was difficult to unload, the court said those damages were too remote.
If we can prove that an accident happened, but don't have any evidence.
Res Ipsa Loquitur