Business 670 - Negligent Tort - Week 6 Paper

Negligent Tort

Introduction

“Negligent tort means a tort committed by failure to act as a reasonable person to someone to whom [he or she] owes a duty, as required by law under the circumstances. Further, negligent torts are not deliberate, and there must be an injury resulting from the breach of the duty. Examples of negligent torts are car accidents, slip and fall accidents, and most medical malpractice cases.” (Negligent Tort Law & Legal Definition, NA) “The elements of a negligence claim are (1) that the defendant owned a duty of care to the plaintiff; (2) that the defendant committed a breach of this duty; and (3) that this breach was the actual and proximate cause of injury experienced by the plaintiff.” (Mallor, Barnes , Bowers, & Langvardt, 2010) Within this paper I will be discussing the three elements of a negligent claim.

Elements of a Negligent Tort

The duty of reasonable care negligence law lies within the premise that society should behave in a way to avoid the creation of unreasonable risks or harm of others. (Mallor, Barnes , Bowers, & Langvardt, 2010) Duty is the obligation of one person to another person which has served as the glue of society. “Duty provides the front door to recovery for the principal cause of action in the law of torts. Every negligence claim must pass through the ‘duty portal’ that bounds the scope of tort recovery for accidental harm.” (Owen, 2007)

The first element of a negligent tort is to determine whether there was a breach of duty. Did the defendant cause harm to the plaintiff and at what degree of proximity or closeness did the defendant’s breach cause injury and to what extent. Due to the difficulty of proving actual causation prosecutors must look for the approximation of causation in determining whether a tort was negligent or not.

“The second element of the tort of negligence is the misconduct itself, the defendant’s improper act or omission. Normally referred to the defendant’s breach of...