Also known as: negligence · negligent tort · tortious negligence
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Conduct falling below the standard established by law for the protection of others against unreasonable risk of harm. It does not include conduct recklessly disregardful of an interest of others.
Tabitha Taylor drove her SUV at excessive speed through a residential area at night. Her vehicle struck and killed a pedestrian walking along the roadside. The pedestrian's estate brought a tort claim against Taylor alleging that her operation of the vehicle fell below the required standard and proximately caused the death.
Tracy Torres slipped on a wet floor in a hotel lobby and suffered injuries. The hotel had known of prior slips in the same area yet failed to place mats or post warnings. In her negligence suit Torres proved the hotel's maintenance fell below the standard required to protect guests from unreasonable risk.
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Tessa Takahashi, a building manager, failed to inspect an emergency exit after a tenant reported it was jammed. A guest was injured when the exit could not be used during a minor fire. The guest sued Takahashi in tort for negligence in failing to maintain the exit in safe condition.
Tristan Thompson leased part of a commercial building to a tenant but retained control of the common stairwell. Thompson hired an independent contractor to repair a known loose handrail. The contractor performed the work negligently and a visitor fell and was injured on the stairs.
Trevor Tate, a local business owner, was accused in a newspaper article of unsafe practices at his factory. The reporter relied on an anonymous tip without checking records or interviewing employees. Tate sued the paper for defamation, proving the paper acted negligently in publishing the false statements.
Thaddeus Tran owned an apartment building and retained a common stairwell he was obligated to keep safe. He hired an independent contractor to replace a burned-out light fixture. The contractor performed the work negligently, leaving the stairs dark, and a tenant fell and was injured.
The tort of negligence requires conduct falling below the standard of a reasonable person that creates an unreasonable risk of harm. Criminal negligence requires a substantially greater deviation from that standard and a conscious disregard of a high risk of death or serious injury.
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A person with special skills such as an expert driver is held to the standard of a reasonable person possessing those skills. The tort of negligence therefore measures breach by whether the skilled actor used the higher level of care that a reasonable person with the same expertise would exercise.
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The duty of care in partnership law requires proof of gross negligence or recklessness rather than ordinary negligence. Conduct that would support a tort claim for ordinary negligence does not by itself establish a breach of the partnership duty of care.
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Evidence of measures taken after an injury that would have made the harm less likely is not admissible to prove negligence or culpable conduct. The rule protects defendants from the inference that the original condition was negligent simply because improvements were later made.
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…which are compensatory in natureapparently requires proof of actual malice under Alabama law, and the judge charged that "mere negligence or carelessness is not evidence of actual malice or malice in fact, and does not justify an award of exemplary or punitive damages." He refused to charge, however, that the jury must be…