Torts Defenses

Who is sick of studying?  I hear ya.  My sister just took her last final today for pharmacy school (at Campbell).  Lucky lucky lucky.

A lot of you are probably familiar with this tune.  Dave Barnes (shout out to the other much cooler David Barnes in Section 4!) the singer/songwriter wrote this song ("God Gave Me You") and it was recently redone by Blake Shelton.  I think Dave Barnes does it better, but that's neither here nor there.  I bet he never in a million years thought it would be rewritten with lyrics about defenses to torts.  Ha.

Enjoy...

The Torts Defenses (sorry for the lame title)

Defenses are everywhere in tort liability

There’s 9 that are privileges, but negligence has just three

Consent and the three defenses – of self, others, property

With more to come…

Use them to stop liability

Like superman they have flexibility

When lawyers are representing D’s

Defenses reduce culpability

It’s true…I’m telling you

Recovery of property, Authority (of Law), Necessity

Justification, Discipline –you prove them and you will see

No matter the harm or foul, the D has a straight shot out

Of course, the jury decides

Use them to stop liability

Like superman they have flexibility

When lawyers are representing D’s

Defenses reduce culpability

It’s true…I’m telling you

Contrib and Comparative –how do we tell them apart?

Contrib is when P contributes to his or her final harm

Comparative: there are three types – pure and 2 modifieds

“Not-as-great-as” and “Not-greater-than”

AoR (Assumption of Risk) is last: Express and Implied

Consent to the risk of the harm

Contracts show express, conduct shows implied

Courts typically do not take implied’s side

Use them to stop liability

Like superman they have flexibility

When lawyers are representing D’s

Defenses reduce culpability

It’s true…I’m telling you