What are some examples of torts? Describe the four elements involved in proving a tort in a court of law. In your response, include a description of the difference between negligent and intentional behavior.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answers may vary.Many kinds of behavior can constitute a tort. Slander and libel are torts, as are cases of professional malpractice, invasion of privacy, the manufacture of defective products that result in a personal injury, and intentional or negligent behavior producing harm to another person.Four elements are involved in proving a tort in a court of law and all involve behavioral issues. First, torts occur in situations in which one individual owes a duty, or has an obligation, to another. For instance, a physician has a duty to treat patients in accordance with accepted professional standards, and individuals have a duty not to harm others physically or psychologically. Second, a tort typically requires proving that one party breached or violated a duty that was owed to other parties. The breached duty can be due to negligence or intentional wrongdoing. Negligence is behavior that falls below a standard for protecting others from unreasonable risks; it is often measured by asking whether a "reasonable person" would have acted as the civil defendant acted in similar circumstances. Intentional behavior is a conduct in which a person meant the outcome of a given act to occur. Third, the violation of the duty must have been the proximate cause of the harm suffered by a plaintiff. A proximate cause is one that constitutes an obvious or substantial reason that a given harm occurred. It is sometimes equated with producing an outcome that is "foreseeable." So if a given event would be expected to cause a given outcome, it is a proximate cause. Fourth, a harm, or loss, must occur, and the harm has to involve a legally protected right or interest for which the person can seek to recover damages that have been suffered. If it can be established that (1) there was a duty, (2) that was breached, (3) which proximately caused the (4) resulting harm, then a tort can be proven in a civil lawsuit.