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¡PROF.  CRAIG CHARLES BELES
¡Seattle, Washington, USA

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1.DUTY TO PL – NECESSARY RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PL & D
2.
2.**STANDARD OF CARE – REQUISITE LEVEL OF CONDUCT
3.
3.**BREACH OF DUTY – FAILURE TO MEET STANDARD
4.
4.CAUSE IN FACT – BREACH OF DUTY RELATES TO INJURY
5.
5.PROXIMATE CAUSE – POLICY RE EXTENT OF LIABILITY
6.
6.INJURY – REQUISITE HARM

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THE REASONABLE PERSON – CHARACTERISTICS?
UNREASONABLENESS – BREACH OF DUTY
HOW TO MEASURE?  U.S. v. Carroll Towing (2d Cir 1947)
HOW TO PROVE?  RES  IPSA  LOQUITUR
SPECIAL STANDARDS OF CARE
PROFESSIONAL NEGLIGENCE – MEDICAL, LEGAL
LAND OCCUPIER – TRESPASSER, LICENSEE, INVITEE

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OBJECTIVE STANDARD
When men live in society, a certain average of conduct, a sacrifice of individual peculiarities
going beyond a certain point, is necessary to the general welfare.  If, for instance, a man is born
hasty and awkward, is always having accidents and hurting himself or his neighbors, no doubt his
congenital defects will be allowed for in the courts of heaven, but his slips are no less
troublesome to his neighbors than if they sprang from guilty neglect.  His neighbors accordingly
require him, at his proper peril, to come up to their standard, and the courts which they establish
decline to take his personal equation into account.
O. W. Holmes, Jr., The Common Law (1881)

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FORESEES Things Based on Experience & Common Knowledge
KNOWS Things That Are Common Knowledge in the Community
How Does Reasonable Person Act in and “EMERGENCY?”
That D Did Not Create
Sometimes, A Reasonable Person Will Anticipate an Emergency
What Are the PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS of the Reasonable Person?
What Is the MENTAL CONDITION of the Reasonable Person?
Does the Reasonable Person Possess Any SPECIAL SKILLS of D?
What Is the AGE of the Reasonable Person?

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Merely Engaging in Risk-Producing Activity does Not Necessarily Equal Unreasonable Risk
“The degree of care demanded of a person by an occasion is the resultant of three factors: the
likelihood that his conduct will injure others [P], taken with the seriousness of the injury if it
happens [L], and balanced against the interest which he must sacrifice to avoid the risk [B].”
Judge Learned Hand (1940)

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If B is less than P X L = Unreasonable Risk
If B is greater than P X L ≠ Unreasonable Risk
P = Probability of Harm
L = Gravity of Harm Should It Occur
B = Burden of Risk Avoidance

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More Proof  Than: An Accident Happened That Caused Pl Injury.
Normally Circumstantial, Rather Than Direct, Evidence
RES IPSA LOQUITUR -  “The Thing Speaks For Itself”
Formal Doctrine of Circumstantial Evidence
1. Pl was probably injured as a result of negligence,
and
2. It was probably D’s negligence

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ADOPTION  OF  A  STATUTE  AS  THE   STANDARD  OF  CARE
PREREQUISITES:
PL  MUST  BE  IN  CLASS  OF  PROTECTED  PERSONS
AND
PL  MUST  SUFFER  TYPE  OF  HARM  INTENDED  TO  BE  PREVENTED
THE  RESULT  OF  ADOPTION  OF  STATUTE  BY COURT?
MAJ. RULE – CONCLUSIVE  PROOF  OF  DUTY , STANDARD  &  BREACH