Tort Case Study In Common Law

982 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Chapter 5 the law of torts

Tort, one of the crucial subjects of study when analyzing common law jurisdictions. Tort, is an action which causes another person or party to suffer harm or loss []. The person who has committed a tortious act is called the tortfeasor while the person who suffered harm or loss from such act is called the injured party or the victim. Although crimes may be torts, torts may not be crimes [] simply because a tort may not have broken a law. In fact, one must understand that the key idea of tort is not to punish the tortfeasor(s) but rather to compensate the victim(s).
When determining whether an act is tortious or not, there are three elements to consider. These elements are duty of care, breach of duty and caused harm or loss. Duty of care, …show more content…

The engineer breached the duty of care through failing his/her duty to warn by providing insufficient warning on the limitation of the application. His/her software application caused the structural firm to designed a defective bridge and was the direct cause of many deaths. The junior engineer should be held liable for his/her product due to the principle known as product liability. This is evident in the case study because deaths and injuries due to defective product as a result of the software were foreseeable. Looking at the 1971 case of Lambert v. Lastoplex Chemicals Co. Limited et al., the manufacturers must not only instruct the user how to properly use the products but also warn the user the consequences of misuse []. This precedent case proves that the engineer failed to warn the structural firm of the limitation of the application as well as failed to warn the consequences of using the application beyond its capabilities. However, the information technology firm may be held vicariously liable for the mistake of the junior engineer as he/she developed the software application during his/her employment. The reason being the employer generally has deeper pocket than the employee [] and the collapse was a result of the junior engineer developing the application under the authority of the employer. Thus, the junior engineer is one of the tortfeasor to which the information firm maybe vicariously liable for his/her

Show More
Related

  • Canadian Tort Law

    1337 Words  | 3 Pages

    Engineers, contractors, and other businesses must be mindful of and knowledgeable of their legal obligations when performing their occupation or supplying a product. Negligence in the design or construction of a product that results in damage or bodily harm, or could result in damage or bodily harm, can result in liability for economic loss under Canadian Tort law. Engineers, architects, and contractors need to be respectful of their duty of care to ensure their product is precisely produced with no danger of negligence.

    Read More

  • Mamo V Surace Case Summary

    1300 Words  | 3 Pages

    The refinement of this definition has significant legal implications, as it broadens the scope of those who can sue within blameless accidents. Prior to this, such victims would also face being labelled with “fault”. Supporting the findings of Axiak, by establishing non-tortious conduct as separate from “fault”, similar, future cases are more likely to proceed despite the plaintiff’s contributory

    Read More

  • A Discussion of George Fletcher’s Paradigm of Reciprocity

    937 Words  | 2 Pages

    Fletcher’s paradigm of reciprocity is a model that describes when liability for an act is shifted from one party to another – in the case of tort liability from victim to defendant. The paradigm discusses two issues. The first issue is whether or not the victim has a right to recovery from an injury. The outcome of the first issue – whether or not the victim has a right to recovery – is dependent on both the actions of the victim and the danger posed by the defendant at the time of the injury. If the actions of the victim posed as much danger to the defendant as the actions of the defendant posed to the victim then there would be no transference of liability. Both parties would be at fault in this case. However, if the actions of the victim did not pose as much danger to the defendant as the actions of the defendant posed to the victim then liability would be transferred to the defendant. When the danger that each party exhibits on one another is unequal there has to be transference of liability. This leads into the second issue that is discussed by the paradigm.

    Read More

  • Tort Of Negligence Case Study

    1013 Words  | 3 Pages

    The tort of negligence is the failure to exercise the standard of care that a reasonable person would exercise in a similar circumstance. Negligent conduct may consist of either an act, or an omission to act when there is a duty to do so. Four elements are required to establish a prima facie case of negligence. The existence of a legal duty to exercise reasonable care, a failure to exercise reasonable care. Cause in fact of physical harm by the negligent conduct; physical harm in the form of actual damages and proximate cause. Which is showing that the harm is within the scope of liability.

    Read More

  • Intentional Tort Law

    1027 Words  | 3 Pages

    A tort is a wrong. More precisely, a tort is a violation of a duty imposed by the civil law. When a person breaks one of those duties and injures another, it is a tort. The injury could be to a person or her property. In a tort case, it is up to the injured party to seek compensation. She must hire her own lawyer, who will file a lawsuit. Her lawyer must convince the court that the defendant breached some legal duty and ought to pay money damages to the plaintiff. A crime is an act so threatening that the government itself will prosecute whether the injured party wants the case to go forward. A district attorney, who is paid by the government, will bring the case to court seeking to send the defendant to prison. If there is a fine,

    Read More

  • Breakdown of American Airlines Accident of Flight 191

    1226 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hoover, K., & Fowler, W. T. (n.d). Studies in ethics, safety, and liability for engineers

    Read More

  • Tort Reform

    1713 Words  | 4 Pages

    A tort is wrongful interference against a person or property, other than breaches of contract, for which the courts can rectify through legal action. The reform effort is aimed at reducing the number of unnecessary lawsuits that burden the court system while still allowing injured parties compensation when they’ve been wronged. This latest effort at tort reform has given rise to the same spirited rhetoric that might be found in a courtroom.

    Read More

  • Negligence Case Study

    935 Words  | 2 Pages

    Negligence, as defined in Pearson’s Business Law in Canada, is an unintentional careless act or omission that causes injury to another. Negligence consists of four parts, of which the plaintiff has to prove to be able to have a successful lawsuit and potentially obtain compensation. First there is a duty of care: Who is one responsible for? Secondly there is breach of standard of care: What did the defendant do that was careless? Thirdly there is causation: Did the alleged careless act actually cause the harm? Fourthly there is damage: Did the plaintiff suffer a compensable type of harm as a result of the alleged negligent act? Therefore, the cause of action for Helen Happy’s lawsuit will be negligence, and she will be suing the warden of the Peace River Correctional Centre, attributable to vicarious liability. As well as, there will be a partial defense (shared blame) between the warden and the two employees, Ike Inkster and Melvin Melrose; whom where driving the standard Correction’s van.

    Read More

  • Responsibility in The Legal Environment of Business

    746 Words  | 2 Pages

    Cross, Frank B., and Roger LeRoy Miller. "Ch. 13: Strict Liability and Product Liability." The legal environment of business: text and cases, 8th edition. Mason, Ohio: Cengage Learning Custom Solutions, 2012. 294-297. Print.

    Read More

  • Assault Battery And Crime Essay

    1113 Words  | 3 Pages

    after suffering harm from the acts of the other party (Turner, 2013). A tort is a civil wrong

    Read More

  • Product Liability In Sports

    1039 Words  | 3 Pages

    (Wong 2010). The law, in this case, defines a defect as "unreasonably dangerous to the user. " The extension of the product manufacturer liability in the recent years is perhaps the most outstanding changes were seen in the Anglo - American legal systems (McWilliams & Smith

    Read More

  • The Tort of Negligence

    1121 Words  | 3 Pages

    did owe a duty of care to Mrs. Donoghue, in that it was up to them to...

    Read More

  • Negligence Case Study

    2378 Words  | 5 Pages

    In our given scenario we are asked to discuss legal principles influencing the likelihood of any successful action against Steve in the grounds of negligence. Steve’s negligent driving caused a series of events that caused losses to the other people presented in the scenario and they take actions against Steve in the grounds of negligence. At first we must understand what negligence is. The tort of negligence provides the potenti...

    Read More

  • Compensation Culture: The Unjurtation Culture In The Mass Media

    1331 Words  | 3 Pages

    From the 1990s, the reports that cover the compensation cases increased dramatically in the mass media (Almond, 2004). There is a view that a huge number of tort cases in the ‘compensation culture’ are unjustified and unfair. In the mid-1990s, the term ‘compensation culture’ first appeared in a famous British newspaper (Levin, 1993). Actually, this is an extreme view, which will be criticized in this paper. This essay emphasizes the compensation culture is a myth (Morris, 2007). There are three reasons: Firstly, the data of the tort claims declined in recent years. Secondly, some victims do not receive the compensation or enough compensation that they deserve. Thirdly, the mass media and public organizations created the ‘compensation

    Read More

  • Higher Accidents at Constuction Sites Means More Safety Practice

    875 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...ntion, the rate of accident will rises thus it will badly affected the image of the construction industry company. On average, more than 40 accidents were recorded each year beginning from 2005 till 2009 despite the efforts done to ensure the safety environment. All accidents have their causes so it is important to identify the causes to the accident so that it can be prevented in future and thus reduce injury, ill health and also cost to the business. This is the article i took from my sinchew.com, the title was second Penang bridge collapse. The possible causes of the accident is because of this three factors, namely design, material used and quality of work not accordance with specifications, and supervision and quality control at the project site. The safety officer should regularly check the construction site to prevent this kind of accidents happen in future.

    Read More

More about Tort Case Study In Common Law

Open Document