Torts
Class Notes
Practice
exam tomorrow –
it’s open book.
Free
printing tomorrow! Hooray!
Last time, we talked about necessity.
Private
necessity
This
is a complete defense to trespass. The
rule is that you pay for the harm you cause.
You can take advantage of someone else’s property to protect your own
property, but you must pay for the harm caused.
This rule forces people to make an economically efficient decision. Actors will balance the value of their own
property that they are protecting with the harm that will be caused to another
person’s private property.
Discipline
This
comes up in education law, but generally it doesn’t appear too frequently
elsewhere.
What
kind of force can you use in an educational setting? You must use reasonable force (“surprise,
surprise”). In the old days, the teacher
would stand in loco parentis (in place of the parents), and thus you
could use the same force parents can use.
Nowadays, we look at teachers as agents of the state who must do what is
educationally reasonable.
Also,
in the old days, there was parent-child immunity, whereas nowadays children can
sue their parents.
Most
people today believe that teachers have less of a privilege to discipline
children than parents do.
Justification
There
are very few cases that cite justification as a defense. Don’t use this as a defense unless you’re
really sure it fits the parameters of the case.
This
defense pops up when no other defense to the tort will work but for some reason
we don’t think it would be fair to hold the defendant liable.
Sindle
v.
The
plaintiff was trying to crawl out the window of the bus to escape when the bus
driver was taking the bus to the police station because the passengers were
vandalizing the bus.
What’s
the rule here? What is the bus driver
protecting? He is protecting public
property. The court seems to be
interested in the fact that the bus driver does not have a private interest at
stake except for the safety of his person.
You can’t protect the bus at the expense of the children. However, you can reasonably weigh harm to
public property with inconvenience to persons.
The
New York Court of Appeals finds that the merits of the justification defense
ought to have been considered by the jury.
What
factors are relevant in determining whether the bus driver was justified in his
actions?
·
What is the manner and place of occurrence?
·
Are other courses of action feasible? Intentional torts should be your last resort.
·
Was the defendant acting in the public interest,
protecting persons and property?
·
Did the defendant have the duty to aid in the
apprehension of a wrongdoer?
·
Was the defendant’s conduct acceptable and
reasonable under the circumstances?
If
there is no serious harm to the public, the defendant is not justified.
Punitive
damages
These
are sums of money that are awarded in addition to any compensatory damages. These damages are available for intentional
torts, but not for negligence. In order
to get punitive damages, you must show intentional or reckless behavior. The judge decides whether the jury gets to
consider punitive damages.
Statutes
by state are limiting or eliminating punitive damages. States also adopt different standards of
proof in awarding punitive damages. Not
very many states use the “preponderance of the evidence” standard of proof for punitive
damages, but rather use “clear and convincing evidence” which falls between “preponderance”
and “beyond a reasonable doubt”.
Purposes
for punitive damages:
·
We want to deter morally reprehensible behavior of a
particular defendant and discourage others from doing the same in the future.
·
It’s like a criminal punishment or fine.
·
It is an incentive for a plaintiff to bring a suit
and an incentive for lawyers to take the case.
It can also help finance socially beneficial litigation that a plaintiff
might not otherwise be able to afford.
·
It is alleged that compensatory damages are
systematically insufficient. Money is
merely a benchmark for what the harm is.
What’s
bad about punitive damages?
·
We think awards should be proportionate for fairness
reasons.
·
When you punish a wealthy defendant, the plaintiff
gets a windfall and the plaintiff gets the benefit of the defendant’s wealth. This windfall may harm other plaintiffs who
have claims against the defendant.
·
If you’re punishing the company, there are probably
better places for the money to go than the plaintiff’s pocket.
·
We impose what amounts to a criminal sanction
without the protections of the criminal law.
·
The jury has no firm guidance as to the
determination of punitive damage awards.
·
Punitive damages are often so large that while they
may not cause a company to go bankrupt, they may discourage companies from
acting at all.
·
There may be a constitutional Due Process problem of
notice.
Gryc
v. Dayton-Hudson Corp.
A
child’s pajamas caught on fire. The plaintiff
sued the manufacturer in a product liability suit.
Focus
on “the extent to which the defendants are subject to federal safety regulation”. What were the federal standards at the
time? It turns out that the product met
the standards; however, that doesn’t make you immune from suit. You can’t totally trust the government to
tell you what to do. It’s not sufficient
to be in compliance with federal standards.
BMW
v. Gore
Gore’s
car has been devalued by $4,000, and he gets those compensatory damages plus punitive
damages for the other thousand cars it is estimated were affected.
This
is a failure to disclose information case.
The
Supreme Court of Alabama reduced the punitive damage award to $2,000,000 from
$4,000,000.
Did
this punitive damage award violate constitutional due process? What factors does the Supreme Court consider?
Is
BMW’s conduct really reprehensible? Not
really. How come? It wasn’t done maliciously. It did not cause any physical harm to
anyone. It didn’t affect the safety or
performance of their cars.
If
you can only prove economic harm, you will not get as big of a punitive damage
award as if there were other types of harm.
The
court also said that there should be a reasonable ratio between compensatory damages
and punitive damages. They say 500 to 1
is too much, but they refuse to say just where they would draw the line. That is intentional.
Finally,
the court compares the criminal and civil punishments for similar behavior to
the punitive damages awarded in the case at hand. This isn’t necessarily an acid test,
especially because criminal and civil fines are usually quite low in every
case.
Ultimately,
the punitive damage award is reduced to $50,000, which is much more in line
with the compensatory damages.
Also,
different states have different judgments about the appropriateness of
activities that cause economic harm.
Punitive
damages have an intent requirement.
Price
v.
Two
guys were drag racing. One got hurt and
sued the other. Price’s insurance
company refused to pay a related claim.
Price tried to sue to get them to pay.
What’s
a declaratory judgment? It declares the
rights of the parties. It’s sort of like
an advisory opinion that resolves a dispute. If the parties fail to act according to the
declaratory judgment, the court will enforce it.
The
issue is whether or not the insurance company should cover punitive damages. Why should punitive damages be excluded from
insurance coverage?
·
The costs of punitive damages should not be passed
along to the general public.
·
The punishment effect of punitive damages should not
be diluted by being able to pass them along to your insurer.
Why
should we allow punitive damages to be covered by insurance?
·
We should not impede the right of private
individuals to collect the benefit of the bargain from existing contracts with
insurance companies.
How
would