Negligence: Tort and Reasonable Person

2. The school should be held liable for Holbrook injury of there was no school supervision provided in the area Holbrook and other students were gathering.

There are many questions and arguments that remain about the standard of care within schools. Should the current standard of care in relation to schools be increased or remain the same or be substantially reduced? Does law of torts make a teacher’s job too difficult? Should schools always be held liable when a student is injured? ‘A tort is a “civil wrong” and for someone to commit a tort they have to interfere with another person’s rights, or fail in their legal obligations to that person, and this causes the person to suffer.’ (Drew Hopkins, 2008) An example case of civil wrong is State of Victoria v Bryar [1970] 44 ALJR 174.

For a successful negligence tort case the plaintiffs must demonstrate the following four elements: a) the existence of a legal duty owed by the defendant to the plaintiff; b) a breach of the legal duty by the defendant; c) causation between the defendant’s acts, or failure to act, and the plaintiff’s injury suffered; and d) damages suffered by the plaintiff (A&A C 273). In both landmark cases, the courts failed to: 1) acknowledge a defined existing legal duty by the school district to educate their students, and 2) prove causation between the school district 's actions and the students’ lack of learning (B). While many lawyers and educators viewed these two landmark cases as the end of this type of tort some now believe the trends in educator effectiveness now make this type of case a lucrative and viable lawsuit (B & C).

Negligence is part of tort law and deals with hardships between individuals where one party has suffered as a result of something the other party did or did not do. The purpose of negligence is to receive compensation for the injuries sustained. (Newnham, 2000). Teachers are relied upon to prepare lesson plans, teach classes and grade student’s work. Encouraging students and acting as teacher–advisors for students. Maintaining discipline in the classroom. (What are the responsibilities of teachers?, 2016).

The court awarded Mrs. Liebeck $200,000 in compensatory damages, but was reduce by the 20 percent she was at fault for, which resulted in a final $160,000 in compensatory damages. In addition she was award punitive damages, which means that this amount was awarded to her as a punishment to the defendant and to serve as a deterrent for the defendant and other in the future. Mrs. Liebeck was originally awarded $2.7 million by the jury, but was reduce $480,000. In the Mrs. Liebeck won a lot of money and put a world wide corporation in the spotlight, and influenced the overwhelming warning label

When this student arrives home after school his parents take him to see the doctor. After receiving an expensive medial bill a few weeks later, the student’s parents decide to file a lawsuit against the school district for the reckless endangerment of their child. If the teacher would have allowed their son to simply apply sunscreen the child would not have gotten a serious sunburn. Since this situation could have been easily avoided, the school district’s no toxic chemical policy unnecessarily caused this child’s pain and

Negligence refers to any cause of any action or omission, where a person may assert a civil tort case and claim against another individual. Anyone that files a negligence lawsuit will need to prove four elements to negligence, in a court of law. If the plaintiff is successful in proving their case, then the judge will award damages.

Negligence is the failure to use such care as a reasonably prudent and careful person would use under similar circumstances.It is the most commonly asserted cause of action in the United States. It is conduct below that which society considers reasonable. When such unreasonable conduct is the proximate cause of injury to another person or his property, the actor may be liable in tort for negligence.Generally, negligence laws exist as a non-criminal regulator of conduct in society. Those individuals whose conduct falls below the required minimum standard of care may be liable for the resulting bodily injury, including death, and property damage.

Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (Graduate) requires all the teachers to achieve ‘Standard 4: Create and maintain supportive and safe learning environment’(AITSL, 2014). While handling the situation, I will not only consider the hurt student, but also about the whole class and the student,who pushes the other student.

Teachers’ negligence can be defined as teachers’ failure to prevent students from harm; to use due care; carelessness that results in injuries and provable damages to students or other individuals. In the New York Wilson v. Vestal Central School District case, the court held the district liable after school administrators failed to prevent the injury of Adria Wilson who was the continual target of an aggressive student. The administrators knew about the aggressive behavior and who the target was, but no precautions were taken in the cafeteria where the incident occurred. According to the Paul D. Coverdell Teacher Protection Act, Teachers can be immune to charges against them if their efforts to prevent injury are those “within the scope of [teachers’] employment” (p. 73). This means that teachers acting with prudence to provide reasonable care, while taking into account the age and maturity level of students, are protected against liability. In addition, students can be guilty of contributory negligence –which means that students’ own negligence leads to their injuries. In Miles v. School District No. 138 of Cheyenne County, a wood shop instructor was not held liable after a student severed two of her fingers when she tried to remove a piece of wood from an operating machine; the student had taken a safety exam and had studied safety booklets, therefore she was held as negligent by the

Professor Blasick. After reviewing this week’s lesson regarding Dr. Paine. It is determined that Dr. Paine’s accident will fall under Tort of Negligence Law due to this law imposes liability when we fall short to those specific standards. There are five Elements of Tort of Negligence, therefore Element Three: Causation exemplifies more of this issue (Jennings, M., 2010). This is due to the action or the lack of action by the defendant, the plaintiff would not have received injuries (Jennings, M., 2010). Looking at the various Elements, Element one which is called the Duty exemplifies professional duties that fines, imprisonment, for violations (Jennings, M., 2010). Element two consist of the Breach of Duty, this duty consist of showing the

Punitive damages, also known as exemplary damages may be awarded by the trier of facts in addition to actual damages. These damages are meant to compensate an injured party for the loss she suffered due to the harm caused by the defendant. Punitive damages are awarded for three reasons; (i) to punish the defendant, (ii) to act as a deterrent to the defendant and others minded to behave in a similar way, and (iii) to demonstrate the court’s disapproval of such conduct.

Along with planning lessons teachers also have to learn the school’s curriculum, policies and procedures. At this time, it becomes a reality that teachers are responsible for their students’ well-being and education. The reality of this responsibility may become

Parents send the children to Catholic Schools everyday trusting that not only God has a plan for them for that day, but also that the faculty and staff within the building do a well. Parents believe that their children are safe at school and free from harm or risk of injury. While incidental things with minor injuries can occur, if a school and it’s employees are not proactive, there can be occurrences where schools are guilty of negligence or “ the absence of care that a reasonable person would expected to use in a given situation” (Wannemuehler, 2016, Lecture Week 2, p. 9). According to Mawdsley (2012), “ the overwhelming number of lawsuits brought against non public institutions involves negligence” (Mawdsley, 2012, p. 76). This makes negligence a priority on the to do list for any school.

The tort of negligence to be constituted depend on whether the defendant violate the principle of ‘Duty 0f Care’. Because of the case of Donoghue v Stevenson [1], ‘Duty 0f Care’ has been established in common law: 1. Defendant whether or not fulfill the duty of care. 2. That defendant whether or not breached that duty. 3. whether Breach the duty of care is the main reason to resulting in infringement. 4. Whether the plaintiff suffered virtual damage as a result of the breach.