25 Cal.2d 486 (1944) One-Sentence Takeaway: The California Supreme Court applied res ipsa loquitur to hold that a patient who suffered an injury while unconscious during surgery could sue all doctors and hospital employees involved without specifying which one was negligent, shifting the burden to defendants to explain the injury. Summary: This case presents the […]
Articles Tagged: negligence
Winterbottom v. Wright
152 Eng. Rep. 402 (Ex. 1842). One-Sentence Takeaway: Under the traditional common law rules (later abandoned by the courts), there was no liability on the part of a negligent manufacturer to another in the absence of privity. Summary: Defendant contracted with the Postmaster-General to supply, and to maintain in safe working order, coaches to carry the mail. […]
Zimmerman v. Ausland
266 Or. 427, 513 P.2d 1167 (1973) One-Sentence Takeaway: The plaintiff in a personal injury case cannot claim damages for what would otherwise be a permanent injury if the permanency of the injury could have been avoided by submitting to treatment by a physician, including possible surgery, when a reasonable person would do so under […]
Active Negligence
The term “active negligence” refers to negligence which results from an affirmative act (e.g., driving into a parked car). Compare with “passive negligence”
Bethel v. New York City Transit Authority
92 N.Y.2d 348 (1998). One-Sentence Takeaway: The standard of care applicable to common carriers is the same as that applied to any other potential tortfeasor – reasonable care under all of the circumstances of the particular case. Summary: Plaintiff was injured on Defendant’s bus when the wheelchair accessible seat collapsed under him. Plaintiff could not […]
Bashi v. Wodarz
45 Cal. App. 4th 1314 (1996). One-Sentence Takeaway: The rule that a driver is not chargeable with negligence when he or she is suddenly stricken by a physical illness that he or she had no reason to anticipate, rendering him or her unconscious, does not extend to mental illnesses. Summary: Defendant rear-ended one vehicle and […]
Andrews v. United Airlines
24 F.3d 39 (9th Cir. 1994). Plaintiff was a passenger in Defendant’s airline and was injured when a briefcase fell from the overhead compartment. Plaintiff did not allege that one of Defendant’s agents had opened the overhead compartment. Instead, he alleged that it was foreseeable that luggage could fall and Defendant did not take proper […]
American Motorcycle Association v. Superior Court
20 Cal. 3d 578 (1978). One-Sentence Takeaway: The doctrine of comparative negligence extends to multiple tortfeasors, allowing for partial indemnity apportioned according to each party’s degree of fault while preserving joint and several liability for plaintiffs’ full recovery. Summary: This seminal case is the first where a court adopted comparative fault theory for apportionment of […]
Adams v. Bullock
227 N.Y. 208 (1919). One-Sentence Takeaway: Defendant not liable for alleged negligence in the absence of any evidence that reasonable precautions had not been taken against injury from trolley wire. Summary: A 12-year-old boy swung a wire off of a bridge and it hit the trolley lines that Defendant ran and it electrocuted the boy. […]