About this Video

• Video Title: FEBRUARY 22, 2024 LECTURE VIDEO
• Channel: Prof. Tebeau
• Speakers: Prof. Tebeau, students (names not specified)
• Duration: 01:06:39

Introduction

This video is a law lecture on torts. The professor covers intentional torts, focusing on torts against property, and then shifts to unintentional torts, primarily negligence. The lecture also discusses strict liability and products liability, including relevant defenses. A significant portion of the lecture involves applying these concepts to a hypothetical fact pattern about a ski resort.

Key Takeaways

• Intentional Torts: The lecture reviews intentional torts against persons (assault, battery, false imprisonment, etc.) and then details intentional torts against property (trespass to land, trespass to personal property, conversion, disparagement of property). The professor emphasizes that the same act can be both a tort and a crime, but they are distinct legal concepts with different standards of proof.
• Negligence: Negligence, the most common tort, is defined as carelessness and requires four elements: duty of care, breach of duty, causation (both actual and proximate), and damages. The lecture extensively covers these elements, particularly proximate cause and foreseeability.
• Defenses to Negligence: The lecture explores defenses to negligence claims, including assumption of risk, superseding cause, contributory negligence, and comparative negligence. The differences between contributory and comparative negligence are highlighted.
• Strict Liability: This concept holds individuals liable regardless of intent or negligence for abnormally dangerous activities (e.g., keeping wild animals, using dynamite) or defective products.
• Products Liability: Products liability cases can involve intentional torts, negligence, or strict liability, depending on the circumstances of the product defect (design, manufacturing, warnings). The professor emphasizes the public policy rationale for strict liability in products liability cases.

Here are a few more key takeaways from the provided transcript, in addition to those previously listed:

• Reasonable Person Standard: The concept of a "reasonable person under the same circumstances" is central to determining duty of care and breach of duty in negligence cases. This is an objective standard, ultimately decided by a judge or jury.

• Causation in Negligence: The lecture distinguishes between actual causation ("but for" cause) and proximate cause. Proximate cause involves determining how closely related the defendant's actions were to the plaintiff's injuries and whether the injuries were foreseeable.

• Defenses in Products Liability: Besides assumption of risk and misuse, contributory or comparative negligence can also be defenses in products liability cases, depending on the jurisdiction and the facts.

• Hypothetical Fact Pattern Analysis: The lecture uses an extended hypothetical involving a ski resort to illustrate the application of tort principles, showing how various torts and defenses could apply to different scenarios within the same fact pattern. This demonstrates the interconnectedness of different tort concepts and the complexities of real-world legal situations.