Jenna and Taryn were involved in an automobile collision in a shopping mall parking lot. Jenna was driving 35 Kilometers per hour in a posted 20 Kilometers per hour zone. Taryn failed to observe a caution sign before crossing a traffic lane. Jenna sued
Taryn for compensatory and punitive damages. Will Jenna win? What will be Jenna's theory of recovery? Will Taryn have any defenses to Jenna's claim?
Jenna can file a lawsuit arguing negligence against Taryn. Negligence is the failure to act as a
reasonable person would under the same or similar circumstances. Taryn failed to observe a caution sign. Failure to stop or slow down and look at traffic before continuing would violate a duty owed to other drivers. The duty is to adhere the standard of care of drivers on the roadway or in this case a private parking lot, which is to act reasonably as to other drivers, certainly one in a traffic lane. But for Taryn's failure to exercise caution, the accident would not have occurred. Thus causation exists. Jenna would no doubt have property damage and perhaps have suffered physical injury.
Compensatory damages are damages allowed in compensation for an injury. Jenna clearly would
have a right to such damages. Punitive damages are damages awarded when someone engages inoutrageous behavior usually intentional behavior directed at another. In this case Taryn at his worst was negligence; therefore, punitive damages are not appropriate.
Taryn has two mutually exclusive defenses. One is the defense of contributory negligence providing that one whose own negligence contributed to his harm cannot recover for the negligence of others. His argument is that Jenna by exceeding the speed limit was also negligent. Jenna violated the reasonable person rule. Most states no longer use the contributory negligence doctrine and instead use a
defense called comparative negligence. In a comparative negligence state, the negligence of a defendant reduces his or her recovery. Assume that Taryn was held to have contributed 20% to his injuries then the award would be reduced by 20%. In some contributory negligence states if the plaintiff's negligence exceeded 50%, then contributory negligence is a complete defense.
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