Negligence Law: Duty of Care, Breach of Duty, and Damages

Running head: NEGLIGENCE LAW
Negligence Law
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1NEGLIGENCE LAW
Table of Contents
Answer 1..........................................................................................................................................2
Legal Element..............................................................................................................................2
Facts satisfying the legal element................................................................................................2
Answer 2..........................................................................................................................................3
Answer 3..........................................................................................................................................4
Answer 4..........................................................................................................................................4
Answer 5..........................................................................................................................................5
Answer 6..........................................................................................................................................5
Answer 7..........................................................................................................................................6
BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................................................................7

2NEGLIGENCE LAW
Answer 1
Legal Element
According to the negligence law, a person owes a duty of care towards another person
who is likely to be affected from the conduct or omission of the person committing such act or
omission1. This is known as the neighbor principle that was established in the landmark case of
Donoghue Stevenson [1932]2. The essential elements of the negligence tort are duty of care,
breach of duty of care and the damage caused due to such breach.
The aggrieved party must establish that the infringing party owed a duty to exercise
reasonable standard of care towards the aggrieved party and was able to foresee the risk of harm
that was likely to be caused to the aggrieved party due to his or her acts or omission3. It must also
be established that any reasonable person would have taken necessary steps to avert the risk of
harm if the person was in the position of the infringing party4. The aggrieved party is entitled to
compensation against the damage suffered due to such breach of duty of care.
Facts satisfying the legal element
In the given case scenario, the facts that satisfies this legal element was the facts based on
which the primary judge held the defendant liable for breach of his duty to take reasonable care
towards the plaintiff and causing him injuries.
The primary Judge considered the following factors that establish duty of care and its
breach committed by the defendant:
1 Cusimano, Gregory S., and Michael L. Roberts. "Contributory Negligence and Assumption of Risk." Alabama Tort
Law 1 (2016).
2 Donoghue Stevenson [1932] A.C. 562.
3 Gilbert, Richard J., and Paul T. Gilbert. Maryland Tort Law Handbook. LexisNexis, 2017.
4 Abraham, Kenneth. The forms and functions of tort law. West Academic, 2017