theme: Colin autoscale: true slidenumbers: true header: #373737, alignment(left), line-height(150%), text-scale(1.0), ITC Galliard Pro Bold Footer:
Res Ipsa Loquitur
Structuring Arguments
Syllogism for proving duty and breach
D was legally obligated to do X.
D failed to do X.
Therefore, D breached their legal duty.
Detailed version
D had a duty (to the plaintiff) to exercise reasonable care under the circumstances.
Reasonable care under the circumstances was X, because of - foreseeability, - reasonable person standard, - custom, - statute, - or hand formula.
D failed to do X, therefore D acted negligently / breached their legal duty to plaintiff.
Byrne v. Boadle
Larson v. St. Francis
Res Ipsa Loquitur
Two requirements:
- Harm results from the kind of situation in which negligence can be inferred
- Defendant was responsible for the instrument of harm
Connolly v. Nicollet Hotel
Why Allow Res Ipsa Loquitur?
- Probabilistic rationale
- Asymmetry and fairness justification
