Cause of Injury: that which actually produces it.
Negligence
The omission to do something which a reasonable person, guided by those ordinary considerations which ordinarily regulate human affairs, would do, or the doing of something which a reasonable and prudent person would not do.
Negligence is the failure to use such care as a reasonably prudent and careful person would use under similar circumstances; it is the doing of some act which a person of ordinary prudence would not have done under similar circumstances, or a failure to do what a person of ordinary prudence would have done under similar circumstances. (Amoco Chemical Corp. V. Hill, El. Super., 318 A. 2d 614, 617) Conduct which falls below the standard established by law for the protection of others against unreasonable risk of harm; it is a departure from the conduct expected of a reasonably prudent person under like circumstances. (US v. Ohio Barge Lines, Inc, 607 F.2d 624, 632)
The term refers only to that legal delinquency which results whenever a person fails to exhibit the care which he or she ought to exhibit, whether it be slight, ordinary, or great. It is characterized chiefly by inadvertence, thoughtlessness, inattention, and the like, while wantonness, or recklessness, is characterized by willfulness. The law of negligence is founded on reasonable conduct or reasonable care under all circumstances or a particular case. Doctrine of negligence rests on the duty of every person to exercise due care in his or her conduct toward others from which injury may result.
Related concepts: actionable negligence, active negligence, cause, comparative negligence, concurrent negligence, fault, imputed negligence, invitation, joint negligence, Laches, legal negligence, Palsgraf Rule, parental liability, product liability, reasonable man doctrine or standards of recklessness, simple negligence, standard of care, strict liability, supervising negligence.
Collateral Negligence:
Doctrine which holds that an employer of an independent contractor, unless he is himself negligent, is not liable for physical harm caused by any negligence of the contractor if a) the contractor's negligence consists solely in the improper manner in which he does the work, and b) it creates a risk of such ahrm which is not inherent in or normal to the work, and c) the employer had no reason to contemplate the contractor's negligence when the contract was made. (Restement, Second, Torts, S. 426)
Concurrent Negligence arises where the same injury is proximately caused by the concurrent wrongful acts or omissions of two or more persons acting independently.
Culpable Negligence: Failure to exercise the degree of care rendered appropriate by the particular circumstances, and which a man of ordinary prudence in the same situation and with equal experience would not have omitted.
Contributory Negligence: The act or omission amounting to the want or lack or ordinary care on part of a complaining party which, concurring with the defendant's negligence, is a proximate cause of the (an) injury (Honaker v. Crutchfield, 247 Ky. 495, 57 S.W. 2d 502) The conduct by a plaintiff which is below the standard to which he is legally required to conform for his own protection and which is a contributing cause which cooperates with the negligence of the defendant in causing the plaintiff's harm. (Li v. Yellow Cab Co. of Calif, 13 Cal. 3d 804, 119 Cal Rptr. 858, 864, 532 P. 2d 1226)
Contributory negligence is the conduct for which a plaintiff is responsible amounting to a breach of duty which the law imposes on persons to protect themselves from injury, and which, concurring and cooperating with actionable negligence for which the defendant is responsible, contributes to the injury complained of as a proximate cause. (Cowan v. Dean, 81 SD 486, 137 N.W. 2d 337, 341) The defense of contributory negligence has been replaced by the doctrine of comparative negligence in many states. It is also an affirmative defense which must be pleaded and proved by the defendant. The doctrine is also applicable to one who, through his own negligence, has contributed to material alteration of a negotiable instrument.
Criminal Negligence:
Criminal negligence which results in (or will render) killing a person (manslaughter) is the omission on the part of the person to do some act which an ordinarily careful and prudent person would do under like circumstances, or the doing of some act which an ordinarily careful prudent person under like circumstances would not do by reason of which another person is endangered in life or bodily safety; the word "ordinary" being synonymous with "reasonable" in this connection.
Negligence of such a character, or occurring under such circumstances, as to be punishable as a crime by statute; or (at comon law) such a flagrant and reckless disregard of the safety of others, or wilful indifference to the injury liable to follow, as to convert an act otherwise lawful into a crime when it results in personal injury or death.
A wanton or reckless disregard for human life, a degree of carelessness amounting to a culpable disregard of rights and safety of others. (Ruffin v. State, 10 Md. App 102, 268 A. 2d 494, 497) That species of want of care by which a person may be crimninally liable. It varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and is called culpable negligence in some. However, it generally refers to conduct which is not intentional and ordinarily not wilful, wanton, and reckless. Profile: Vigilant Warrior
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