Lets talk torts…
I know it’s been awhile, but let’s get back to things with some learning, and I’ll get to the why behind my absence in a later post.
Here are the elements of Negligence: (Directly from the professor’s slide)
Duty: Defendant owed a duty to Plaintiff. (defined by a standard of reasonable care)
Breach: Defendant breached this duty
*Actual Cause: Defendant’s breach of duty was the factual cause of plaintiff’s injury.
*Proximate cause: Defendant’s breach of duty is sufficiently tied to Plaintiff’s injury that D should be held liable.
Actual Harm: Plaintiff suffered actual damages because of the defendant’s breach of duty.
* Two separate elements that some jurisdictions(such as Maryland) put these elements together as one in their terminology.
NOTE: often times the term being negligent refers to the breach itself, and not the entire situation described above.
Maryland Attorney Jobeth Bowers is the founder of Bowers Law and a graduate of the University of Baltimore School of Law
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