Tort in Business (Essay Sample)

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Tort Law
In common law jurisdictions, a tort is a civil wrong that unfairly causes someone else to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Although crimes may be torts, the cause of legal action is not necessarily a crime, as the harm may be due to negligence. The following video explains what negligence is.
Legal injuries:
are not limited to physical injuries and may include emotional, economic, or reputational injuries, as well as violations of privacy, property, or constitutional rights. Torts include such varied topics as auto accidents, false imprisonment, defamation, product liability, copyright infringement, and environmental pollution (toxic torts). While many torts are the result of negligence, tort law also recognizes intentional torts, in which a person has intentionally acted in a way that harms another. In addition, when it comes to product liability, the courts have established a doctrine of “strict liability” for torts arising from injury caused by the use of a company’s product and/or service. Under “strict liability,” the injured party does not have to prove that the company was negligent in order to win a claim for damages.
Tort law is different from criminal law in two ways: (1) torts may result from negligent as well as intentional or criminal actions, and (2) tort lawsuits have a lower burden of proof, such as “preponderance of evidence” rather than “beyond a reasonable doubt.” Sometimes a plaintiff may prevail in a tort case even if the person who allegedly caused harm was acquitted in an earlier criminal trial. For example, O. J. Simpson was acquitted in criminal court of murder but later found liable for the tort of wrongful death.
For businesses, torts that arise from product liability can have devastating consequences. Let’s examine product liability in greater detail.
Product Liability
Product liability is the area of law in which product manufacturers, distributors, and sellers are held responsible for the injuries caused by their products. Traditionally, product liability cases were decided according to the theory of negligence. Negligence is behavior that results in an unintentional injury or causes unintentional harm. Product liability law has evolved, however, and most states have extended product liability into the category of strict liability tort, too. Strict liability torts involve actions that are inherently dangerous and for which a party may be liable no matter how carefully he or she (or it) performs those actions. Regardless of whether the product liability claim is based upon negligence or strict liability, a product liability claim results from either a design defect, a manufacturing defect, or a failure to warn. To better appreciate the issues involved in cases of strict liability, let’s return to where we left you and your summer house-painting business at the beginning of this chapter.
2.Pursuing a Claim of Product Liability
Not surprising, your lawyer advises you to file an action for product liability—a claim of injury suffered because of a defective product (in your case, the ladder, of course). He goes on to say that in cases of product liability, there are three major bases for product liability claims. Section 2 of the Restatement (Third) of Torts: Products Liability identifies the following: manufacturing defect, design defect, failure to warn (also known as marketing defects). These are explained below:
* Manufacturing defects are those that occur in the manufacturing process and usually involve poor-quality materials or shoddy workmanship.
* Design defects occur where the product design is inherently dangerous or useless (and hence defective) no matter how carefully manufactured; this may be demonstrated either by showing that the product fails to satisfy ordinary consumer expectations as to what constitutes a safe product or that the risks of the product outweigh its benefits.
* Failure-to-warn defects arise in products that carry inherent non-obvious dangers that could be mitigated through adequate warnings to the user, and these dangers are present regardless of how well the product is manufactured and designed for its intended purpose.
In most states, these defects are not legal claims in and of themselves, but they are the grounds for the action (negligence or strict liability). For example, a plaintiff might plead negligent failure to warn or strict liability for defective design.There for the complainatns can sue the person following the acts named since by law its allowed if all of the terms and conditionds that they agreed on are not met.
Grounds of Strict Liability
For the sake of argument, let’s say that your lawyer isn’t very confident about pursuing a claim of negligence against the manufacturer of your ladder. The company doesn’t appear to have been careless in any of the three forms prescribed by law, and it will in any case be difficult to demonstrate the elements required in negligence cases. He suggests instead that you proceed on grounds of strict liability.
In tort law, strict liability is the imposition of liability on a party without a finding of fault (such as negligence or tortious intent). The claimant need only prove that the tort occurred and that the defendant was responsible. The law imputes strict liability to situations it considers to be inherently dangerous. It discourages reckless behavior and needless loss by forcing potential defendants to take every possible precaution. It also has the effect of simplifying and thereby expediting court decisions in these cases. In short, strict liability is based on the following legal theories:
1 Certain products put people at risk of injury no matter how much care is taken to prevent injury.
2 Consumers should have some means of seeking compensation if they’re injured while using these products.
3 And also the compensation line should be the line in terms in the agreement stipulated between the one who needs to be compensated and the person who damged the goos or went against what was agreed.
A classic example of strict liability is the owner of a tiger rehabilitation center. No matter how strong the tiger cages are, if an animal escapes and causes damage and injury, the owner is held liable. Another example is a contractor hiring a demolition subcontractor that lacks proper insurance. If the subcontractor makes a mistake, the contractor is strictly liable for any damage that occurs.
In strict liability situations, although the plaintiff does not have to prove fault, the defendant can raise a defense of “absence of fault”: that is, the defense can argue that the defect was the result of the plaintiff’s actions—not of the product—and that no inference of defect should be drawn solely because an accident occurs. On the other hand, if the plaintiff can prove that the defendant knew about the defect before the damages occurred, in some jurisdictions additional punitive damages can be awarded to the victim.
Compensatory and Punitive Damages
When someone pursues a claim under a tort as the above named complainants did the goal (or legal remedy) is usually the award of damages. Damages in tort are generally awarded to restore the plaintiff to the position he or she was in had the tort not occurred.
In law, damages are an award, typically of money, to be paid to a person as compensation for loss or injury. Damages are classified as compensatory (or actual) damages and punitive damages.
 Compensatory damages are further categorized into special damages, which are economic losses such as loss of earnings, property damage, and medical expenses, and general damages, which are noneconomic damages such as pain and suffering and emotional distress.
Generally, punitive damages are not