civil law law i: chapter 5 civil law. introduction within the legal system of the united states,...

CIVIL LAW

LAW I: CHAPTER 5

CIVIL LAW

CIVIL LAW

INTRODUCTION

• Within the legal system of the United States, civil law is a body of law pertaining to non-criminal private disputes among individuals, corporations, and governments.

• Thus, civil law is distinguished from criminal law, which deals with the enforcement of public laws and those accused of violating them.

CIVIL LAW

INTRODUCTION

• In a civil action, one private individual takes legal action against another private individual to seek relief in a court of law for an alleged wrong.

• When people are injured or their property or reputation is damaged, their rights are specifically determined by tort law.

CIVIL LAW

INTRODUCTION

• Tort law is a branch of the civil law; the other main branches are contract and property law.

• The word tort comes from the Latin term tortum, which means "twisted, wrong, or crooked."

• TORT: One person's interference with another's rights through intent, negligence, or strict liability.

CIVIL LAW

INTRODUCTION

• TORTFEASOR: A person who commits a tort.

• Torts are punishable by monetary compensation or an injunction.

• Courts award damages when a defendant breaches a legal duty to a plaintiff and this breach proximately causes an injury recognized under the law.

CIVIL LAW

INTRODUCTION

• The burden of proof in a civil case is a preponderance of the evidence.

• PREPONDERANCE OF EVIDENCE: Evidence which is of greater weight or more convincing than the opposing evidence.

• The reason for the different standards of proof is that a defendant loses money in a civil case, but can suffer lengthy imprisonment or even the death penalty as a result of a criminal conviction.

CIVIL LAW

INTRODUCTION

• In some situations, a wrong is both a tort and crime.

• Many crimes do not have a specific tort counterpart, but individuals can still sue someone in civil court for their injuries.

• For example, there is no tort called rape, but a rape victim can sue their assailant in civil court for the torts of assault, battery, false imprisonment, and infliction of emotional distress.

CIVIL LAW

CRIMINAL v. CIVIL

LEGAL TOPICS CRIMINAL CIVIL

Wronged Party Society/“The People” Individual/Plaintiff

Wrongdoer Criminal/Defendant Tortfeasor/Defendant

Issues Guilt or Innocence Liability and Damages

Initiator of Court Action Prosecutor/State/Govern-ment

Individual

Burden of Proof Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

Preponderance of Evidence

Consequences Imprisonment, Fine, Death

Damages, Injunction

Beneficiary of Consequences

Society as a Whole Individual

CIVIL LAW

INTENTIONAL TORTS

• INTENTIONAL TORT: A wrong that occurs when a person possesses the intent to inflict injury.

• In intentional torts, the person’s state of mind when they were performing the act is the critical element.

CIVIL LAW

INTENTIONAL TORTS

• The most important legal difference between an intentional tort and negligence is that if someone is the victim of an intentional tort, they are eligible to recover an award of punitive damages in addition to all of their other damages.

CIVIL LAW

BATTERY

• BATTERY: The intentional, harmful, and unprivileged touching of another person.

• The perpetrator is liable for all resulting damages, regardless of whether they wanted or expected the contact to cause injury.

• Harmful or offensive touching may not be a battery if it is unintentional, justified (self-defense), and/or consensual (boxing).

CIVIL LAW

ASSAULT

• ASSAULT: When one person intentionally puts another in reasonable fear of an offensive or harmful bodily contact.

• In the tort of assault, the victim must know that the tortfeasor has tried to harm him or her.

• Without that knowledge, the victim has not been frightened, and no harm has resulted.

CIVIL LAW

ASSAULT

• An assault can be an intentional threat made with words or gestures, but it must be believable.

• While battery requires a harmful or offensive contact, assault merely requires fear that a harmful or offensive contact is about to occur.

• An assault frequently precedes a battery.

CIVIL LAW

INFLICTION OF EMOTIONAL DISTRESS

• INFLICTION OF EMOTIONAL DISTRESS: Intentionally using words or actions that are meant to scare someone or cause them extreme anxiety or emotional distress.

• Actual physical injury is not required for the plaintiff to recover damages.

CIVIL LAW

INFLICTION OF EMOTIONAL DISTRESS

• However, courts do require that the defendant’s conduct be quite outrageous and that the plaintiff prove extreme distress.

• Mere insults are not enough to form the basis of a lawsuit for emotional distress.

• This is a relatively new tort as courts have only recognized it since about 1940.

CIVIL LAW

FALSE IMPRISONMENT

• FALSE IMPRISONMENT: The intentional and unlawful physical confinement of a person against their will.

• Law enforcement officers must have probable cause or a warrant to make a privileged arrest.

• Consequently, police officers are subject to a lawsuit for false arrest if they make an unlawful detainment.

CIVIL LAW

FALSE IMPRISONMENT

• False arrest is a method of committing a false imprisonment; it requires that the perpetrator asserts they are acting pursuant to legal authority.

• When one consents to being detained, false imprisonment does not occur.

• Legally speaking, one is not imprisoned if there is a reasonable way to escape from the confined area.

CIVIL LAW

DEFAMATION

• DEFAMATION: Certain false statements that injure a person’s reputation or good name.

• LIBEL: A false statement in written or printed form that injures another's reputation or reflects negatively on that person's character.

CIVIL LAW

DEFAMATION

• SLANDER: A false statement made verbally to a third party that injures another's reputation or reflects negatively on that person's character.

• Individuals can usually sue for defamation as long as the permanent statement is false, damaging to their reputation, and communicated to at least one other person.

CIVIL LAW

DEFAMATION

• In defamation suits, the defendant must show that they have suffered actual damages as a result of the statement.

• People are allowed to speak the truth without being successfully sued for defamation as long as it is done without malice.

CIVIL LAW

DEFAMATION

• Statements made by legislators on the floor of congress and statements made in a court of law are immune from liability, even those made with malice.

• These privileged statements protect the open debate of legislative and judicial matters and are therefore not subject to a defamation suit.

CIVIL LAW

DEFAMATION

• Persons who are in the public spotlight must prove more damage to their reputation than the average person to win a defamation lawsuit.

CIVIL LAW

INVASION OF PRIVACY

• INVASION OF PRIVACY: A violation of a person's right to be left alone.

• The U.S. Supreme Court states that citizens should be protected when they have “a reasonable expectation of privacy.”

• Invasion of privacy can be committed through the methods of intrusion of solitude and public disclosure of private facts.

CIVIL LAW

INVASION OF PRIVACY

• Intrusion of solitude applies to an actual physical or electronic penetration of an individual’s private home or other personal space.

• In a public disclosure of private facts situation, the facts themselves may be completely true, but the method of obtaining those facts and publishing them could constitute an invasion of privacy.

CIVIL LAW

NUISANCE

• Nuisances may be categorized as private and public.

• PRIVATE NUISANCE: An unreasonable interference with the ability to use and enjoy real property.

• PUBLIC NUISANCE: An unlawful intrusion on the public comfort, peace, health, and safety of the community.

• Nuisances are typically offensive to the senses of smell, sight, and sound.

CIVIL LAW

TRESPASS

• TRESPASS: Entry onto the real property of another without the owner’s consent.

• Intent is required to commit trespass to land; however, the only requirement is that the intruder intended to be on the particular property.

CIVIL LAW

TRESPASS

• Therefore, if someone thought they were walking on their own property instead of their neighbor’s but were mistaken, then technically there would be a trespass because they intended to be there.

CIVIL LAW

CONVERSION

• CONVERSION: When personal property is stolen, damaged, destroyed, interfered with, or used in violation of the owner’s rights.

• Interference can be accomplished by moving, transferring, discarding, or hiding the property.

CIVIL LAW

CONVERSION

• The remedy for conversion is usually in the form of damages equal to the value of the property.

CIVIL LAW

INFRINGEMENT

• INFRINGEMENT: The illegal use of someone’s intellectual property, such as a copyright, patent, or trademark.

• Intellectual property law promotes progress because it provides an incentive for engaging in creative pursuits.

• Also, most people think it is fair that creators profit from their creations.

CIVIL LAW

INFRINGEMENT

• However, advancements are often made by building on the work of others.

• If people cannot use the work of others, it might hinder technology and progress, so intellectual property rights (especially patents) are kept somewhat limited.

CIVIL LAW

FRAUD

• FRAUD: The taking of someone’s money or property by intentionally deceiving them.

• The misrepresentation must be relied on and cause the victim to part with an asset.

• A statement of opinion is generally not considered fraudulent.

CIVIL LAW

ELEMENTS OF NEGLIGENCE

• Unlike intentional torts—many of which have specific names—negligence is a very broad term that deals with many kinds of wrongful conduct.

• NEGLIGENCE: The most common occurring tort in society based on carelessness.

CIVIL LAW

ELEMENTS OF NEGLIGENCE

• For a plaintiff to win a negligence lawsuit against the defendant, each of the following elements must be proven by a preponderance of evidence.

1.DUTY: The defendant, or accused wrongdoer, owed a duty of care to the plaintiff, or injured party.

• Everyone has a duty toward everyone else in society: the duty to act reasonably.

CIVIL LAW

ELEMENTS OF NEGLIGENCE

• To help judge whether certain conduct is negligent, the law has developed the “reasonable person” standard.

• The “reasonable person” standard is an objective standard based on what a reasonable adult would do in the same situation to avoid injuring others.

CIVIL LAW

ELEMENTS OF NEGLIGENCE

• In court, the trier of fact (usually a jury) sets this standard to help determine possible liability.

2.BREACH OF DUTY: The defendant’s conduct breached or violated the duty as defined by the “reasonable person” standard.

CIVIL LAW

ELEMENTS OF NEGLIGENCE

3.CAUSATION: The defendant’s conduct caused the plaintiff’s harm and it was reasonably foreseeable.

4.INJURY: The plaintiff suffered actual injuries or losses.

CIVIL LAW

NEGLIGENT LIABILITY

• All persons, with a few exceptions, are personally responsible for their conduct and are therefore liable for their torts.

• However, reasonable care may vary from situation to situation.

CIVIL LAW

NEGLIGENT LIABILITY

• For instance, individuals are not expected to act the same in an emergency as they would in a non-emergency, when they had time to assess the situation and weigh the alternatives.

CIVIL LAW

NEGLIGENT LIABILITY

• Very young children—usually under age seven—are legally incapable of being negligent in many states.

• However, one may sue a child for an intentional tort, such as battery, if the child understood the wrongfulness of the act, yet still went ahead and did it anyway.

CIVIL LAW

NEGLIGENT LIABILITY

• On the contrary, old age alone does not have any effect on the degree of care that applies to all adults.

• For instance, an 85 year-old driver must use the same degree of care that a 25 year-old driver must use while driving a car.

CIVIL LAW

NEGLIGENT LIABILITY

• A person who has a physical disability is not held to the same standard of care as a person without any disabilities.

• A physically disabled person is required to use only that degree of care and caution that a reasonable person with the same disability would use.

CIVIL LAW

NEGLIGENT LIABILITY

• For example, a blind man must exercise the same degree of care that a “reasonable” blind man would use in crossing the street.

• A person who is insane or mentally challenged generally is held to the same standard as a person of average intelligence.

CIVIL LAW

NEGLIGENT LIABILITY

• An insane person who injures another person or damages another’s property is liable for the damages, even though the person doesn’t know what he or she is doing at the time.

• However, the law relieves a person of criminal responsibility if he or she was insane at the time of the act.

CIVIL LAW

NEGLIGENT LIABILITY

• In most states, parents are vicariously liable, by statute, up to a specified amount of money for property damage by their minor children (vandalism, operating motor vehicles, etc.).

• VICARIOUS LIABILITY: When one person is liable for the torts of another.

CIVIL LAW

DEFENSES TO NEGLIGENCE

• People can defend themselves in a negligence suit by simply eliminating one of the four elements.

• In cases in which defendants cannot attack one of the elements, they may try to use one of the following defenses: contributory negligence, comparative negligence, or assumption of risk.

CIVIL LAW

DEFENSES TO NEGLIGENCE

• CONTRIBUTORY NEGLIGENCE: Negligence on the part of the plaintiff that assisted in causing their own injuries.

• Under the doctrine of contributory negligence, if the defendant can prove that the plaintiff's own negligence helped cause the injuries, then the plaintiff loses the lawsuit.

CIVIL LAW

DEFENSES TO NEGLIGENCE

• This result stands no matter how minor the plaintiff’s own negligence was.

• COMPARATIVE NEGLIGENCE: A method which compares the negligence of the plaintiff and the defendant and then reduces the amount of the plaintiff’s recovery by the percent of their own negligence.

• Michigan is a pure comparative negligence state.

CIVIL LAW

DEFENSES TO NEGLIGENCE

• ASSUMPTION OF RISK: A negligence defense in which the defendant can show that the plaintiff encountered a known danger and accepted the implied risk of that danger.

• This defense has been used successfully by sports franchises when they have been sued.

CIVIL LAW

DEFENSES TO NEGLIGENCE

• Benejam v. Detroit Tigers, Inc., 2001, Wayne Circuit Court: set precedent for Michigan sport franchise assumption of risk cases.

• The ruling concluded that the Tigers had no duty to warn because the danger was open and obvious.

CIVIL LAW

DEFENSES TO NEGLIGENCE

• This defense is also used when a warning is posted that gives notice of a certain danger such as “Swim at Your Own Risk” or “Caution Slippery Floor” signs.

CIVIL LAW

STRICT LIABILITY

• STRICT LIABILITY: A legal doctrine which makes people responsible for damages or injuries their actions or products cause, regardless of any fault on their part.

• Unlike negligence and intentional torts, which look at the conduct and mental state of the tortfeasor, strict liability is concerned only with the nature of the activity.

CIVIL LAW

STRICT LIABILITY

• Three groups of people face strict liability: people who engage in highly dangerous activities, owners of dangerous animals, and manufacturers and sellers of defective consumer products.

• The nature of highly dangerous activities is so inherently unsafe that it alone is sufficient to impose liability.

CIVIL LAW

STRICT LIABILITY

• Highly dangerous activities generally include the transportation, storage, and use of explosives, hazardous chemicals, and/or radioactive materials.

• The law has traditionally held owners strictly liable for any harm caused by wild animals in addition to domesticated animals that have a known tendency for dangerous behavior.

CIVIL LAW

STRICT LIABILITY

• Strict liability also occurs through the sale of goods that are unreasonably dangerous and defective.

• If the defect causes an injury, the manufacturer and sellers may be liable to any buyer of the defective product who is injured by it.

CIVIL LAW

STRICT LIABILITY

• Strict liability is meant to create a strong incentive for companies to design safe products, test products thoroughly before placing them on the market, and include clear directions and warnings on products.

CIVIL LAW

WRONGFUL DEATH

• WRONGFUL DEATH: When someone is killed as a result of the intent, negligence, or strict liability of the defendant, which entitles the surviving heirs or beneficiaries to monetary damages as a result of the defendant's unlawful conduct.

CIVIL LAW

WRONGFUL DEATH

• Wrongful death statutes vary from state to state, but in general they define who may sue for wrongful death and what, if any, limits may be applied to an award of damages.

• Michigan does not put a limit on the damages that may be awarded as long as they are deemed to be “fair and equitable under all the circumstances.”

CIVIL LAW

WRONGFUL DEATH

• Compensatory damages, which are intended to make restitution for the amount of money lost, are the most common damages awarded in wrongful death actions.

CIVIL LAW

WRONGFUL DEATH

• Plaintiffs who prevail in a wrongful death lawsuit may recover medical and funeral expenses in addition to the amount of economic support they could have received if the decedent had lived and, in some instances, a sum of money to compensate for grief or loss of companionship.

CIVIL LAW

WRONGFUL DEATH

• Punitive damages may also be awarded in a wrongful death case if the defendant's actions were particularly reckless or heinous.

CIVIL LAW

ELEMENTS OF NEGLIGENCE

• The main remedy of a tort is compensation in the form of damages; however, courts will sometimes grant an injunction in cases where money does not apply.

• DAMAGES: A monetary award to compensate for the loss caused by a tort.

CIVIL LAW

NEGLIGENT LIABILITY

• NOMINAL DAMAGES: A term used when a judge or jury finds in favor of one party to a lawsuit—often because a law requires them to do so—but concludes that no real harm was done and therefore awards a very small amount of money.

CIVIL LAW

STRICT LIABILITY

• COMPENSATORY DAMAGES: Damages that cover actual injury or economic loss.

• Compensatory damages are intended to put the injured party in the position they were in prior to the injury and typically include medical expenses, lost wages, and the repair or replacement of property.

• Also called actual damages.

CIVIL LAW

STRICT LIABILITY

• GENERAL DAMAGES: Damages intended to cover injuries for which an exact dollar amount cannot be calculated.

• General damages are usually composed of pain and suffering, but can also include compensation for a shortened life expectancy, humiliation, loss of the companionship of a loved one and, in defamation cases, loss of reputation.

CIVIL LAW

STRICT LIABILITY

• PUNITIVE DAMAGES: Damages that exceed normal compensation which are designed to punish a torfeasor’s willful and malicious misconduct and to deter them from doing it again.

• Sometimes called exemplary damages.• Punitive damages are not awarded in

Michigan; however, general damages may be recovered.

CIVIL LAW

REMEDIES FOR TORTS

• INJUNCTION: A court order issued by a judge ordering a person to do or not to do something.

• This remedy is available only in special circumstances where money damages will not adequately repay the injured party.

CIVIL LAW

REMEDIES FOR TORTS

• SETTLEMENT: When both parties to a dispute reach an agreement.

• Settlements are actually much more common than trials.

• Approximately 90 percent of tort cases filed in court are settled without a trial.

CIVIL LAW

CLASSWORK

• Define Ch. 5 Vocab Words• 5-1 Assessment Questions, pg. 84: 1,

3-7 & 10-12.• 5-2 Assessment Questions, pg. 92: 2-

4 & 6-9.• 5-3 Assessment Questions, pg. 96: 1-

2 & 5-7.