Tort Law: A Comprehensive Guide to Negligence Intentional Torts and Strict Liability

128 questions on tort law, answered and cited by the UpLaw editorial team.

• Are children and mentally ill people liable for intentional torts?
• Are intentional torts ever within the scope of employment?
• Are noneconomic damages capped in tort cases?
• Are punitive damages insurable?
• Are unwanted emails a trespass to chattels?
• Can a jury punish a defendant for harm caused to people who are not parties?
• Can a statutory violation be excused in a negligence per se state?
• Can you recover in negligence without proving actual harm?
• Can you sue a government entity for a dangerous road design?
• Can you use deadly force to protect property?
• Do defenses to the underlying tort apply to a wrongful death claim?
• Do dog-bite statutes change the common-law rule?
• Does primary assumption of risk leave a defendant with no duty at all?
• Does strict liability for a dangerous activity cover every resulting harm?
• How did fault become the default basis of American tort liability?
• How did strict products liability develop?
• How does consent work as a defense to an intentional tort?
• How does the First Amendment limit IIED claims?
• How does the Restatement (Third) reframe foreseeability in the duty analysis?
• How does the standard of care change for different kinds of defendants?
• How does the voluntary undertaking doctrine create risk in ordinary business?
• How do lawyers actually argue the Hand formula at trial?
• How many states have abolished the premises liability categories?
• How should a plaintiff's lawyer build a breach case?
• Is an employee's commute within the scope of employment?
• Is comparative fault a defense to an intentional tort?
• Is compliance with a safety statute a defense to a negligence claim?
• Is compliance with industry custom a defense to negligence?
• Is failure to wear a seatbelt admissible to reduce damages?
• Is subsequent medical malpractice a superseding cause?
• Is there a duty to rescue someone in danger?
• Is tort law federal or state law?
• Must the manner of harm be foreseeable for proximate cause?
• What are notice-of-claim statutes?
• What are the BMW v. Gore guideposts for punitive damages?
• What are the contested boundaries of the economic loss rule?
• What are the elements of assault?
• What are the elements of battery?
• What are the elements of intentional infliction of emotional distress?
• What are the exceptions to the no-duty-to-rescue rule?
• What are the four elements of negligence?
• What are the limits of self-defense in tort law?
• What are the premises liability entrant categories?
• What are the requirements for negligence per se?
• What are the Restatement (Second) factors for an abnormally dangerous activity?
• What are the rules of strict liability for animals?
• What are the State Farm reprehensibility factors?
• What are the three comparative fault regimes?
• What are the three families of tort liability?
• What are the traditional elements of res ipsa loquitur?
• What categories of damages are recoverable in a tort case?
• What did Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad decide?
• What did Rowland v. Christian change about premises liability?
• What did Ybarra v. Spangard decide about res ipsa loquitur?
• What does "danger invites rescue" mean?
• What does intent mean in tort law?
• What effect does a statutory violation have in different states?
• What factors push conduct over the line into outrageousness for IIED?
• What happened to joint and several liability under comparative fault?
• What happens when two independently sufficient causes produce the same harm?
• What is alternative liability under Summers v. Tice?
• What is a statute of repose and how does it differ from a statute of limitations?
• What is a tort?
• What is contributory negligence and where does it survive?
• What is false imprisonment?
• What is last clear chance?
• What is market-share liability?
• What is negligence per se?
• What is negligent entrustment?
• What is negligent hiring, retention, and supervision?
• What is public nuisance and why is it contested?
• What is res ipsa loquitur?
• What is respondeat superior?
• What is strict liability for abnormally dangerous activities?
• What is the attractive nuisance doctrine?
• What is the but-for test of causation?
• What is the collateral source rule?
• What is the Daubert standard for expert testimony?
• What is the difference between actual cause and proximate cause?
• What is the difference between a frolic and a detour?
• What is the difference between an intervening cause and a superseding cause?
• What is the difference between a wrongful death action and a survival action?
• What is the difference between primary and secondary implied assumption of risk?
• What is the difference between public and private necessity?
• What is the difference between trespass and nuisance?
• What is the discovery rule for tort claims?
• What is the economic loss rule?
• What is the eggshell skull rule?
• What is the Hand formula?
• What is the loss of chance doctrine?
• What is the mode-of-operation rule in premises liability?
• What is the notice requirement in a slip-and-fall case?
• What is the reasonable person standard?
• What is the remedy for conversion?
• What is the risk standard for proximate cause?
• What is the shopkeeper's privilege?
• What is the statute of limitations for a personal injury claim?
• What is the Tarasoff duty?
• What is the test for scope of employment?
• What is transferred intent?
• What is trespass to chattels and how does it differ from conversion?
• What is trespass to land?
• What limitations practice should a tort lawyer follow when opening a file?
• What ratio of punitive to compensatory damages is constitutionally permissible?
• What should a lawyer verify about causation before filing a tort case?
• What standard governs informed consent claims?
• What statutory rules override common-law premises liability?
• What was the difference between the Cardozo and Andrews approaches in Palsgraf?
• When are punitive damages available in a tort case?
• When can you recover for negligent infliction of emotional distress?
• When is an express assumption of risk waiver enforceable?
• When is a principal liable for an independent contractor's torts?
• When is a third party's criminal act not a superseding cause?
• When is custom the standard of care rather than just evidence of it?
• When is res ipsa loquitur actually useful?
• Which comparative fault regime do most states follow?
• Who decides whether a defendant owed a duty of care?
• Why can starting a rescue create liability?
• Why did Judge Posner refuse strict liability in the Indiana Harbor Belt case?
• Why does it matter whether a claim is pleaded as negligence or as an intentional tort?
• Why does the difference between wrongful death and survival recoveries matter?
• Why does the duty to inspect matter so much in premises cases?
• Why do most legal malpractice claims fail?
• Why do plaintiffs plead negligent hiring alongside respondeat superior?
• Why haven't courts extended market-share liability to other products?
• Why is forum selection the highest-leverage decision in a tort case?
• Why is vicarious liability usually where the money is?
• Why is Vincent v. Lake Erie Transportation Co. so important?