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(7) Strict Liability
2
STRICT LIABILITY
Strict Liability: Prima Facie Case
Under strict liability, D has an ABSOLUTE DUTY to make activities safe.
- Allows P to establish D's liability for P's injuries without proving D acted negligently.
No amount of due care will relieve D of liability under strict liability
Strict Liability is limited to cases involving:
Limited to cases involving
1) Ultrahazardous and/or Abnormally Dangerous Conditions
2) Animal Conduct
3) Products Liability
Prima Facie Strict Liability Case
Prima Facie Case
1) The NATURE of D's activity imposes ABSOLUTE DUTY to make safe
2) CAUSATION - actual and proximate cause
- the dangerous aspect of D's activity caused P's injury
3) DAMAGES to P's person or property
Defenses
(1) Assumption of Risk
(2) Comparative Negligence
Defenses
Strict Liability: Abnormally Dangerous Conditions
Abnormally dangerous or ultrahazardous activities or conditions give rise to strict liability for any resulting injuries
Injury MUST result from abnormally dangerous activity - watch out for fact patterns that abnormally dangerous conditions EXIST but DO NOT CAUSE P's injury
- e.g., a truck carrying toxic waste in sealed containers, which fall and crash into P's car but do not spill.
- No strict liability bc the abnormally dangerous nature of the containers did not cause the injury
Requirements
Requirements
1) Severe Risk
- condition or activity imposes a severe risk of harm to persons or property
2) Cannot Be Made Safe
- it cannot be made reasonably safe
- cannot be performed without a serious risk of harm
3) Uncommon
- condition or activity is uncommon in the community
- toxic, explosive, or biohazardous materials
Strict Liability: Animal Conduct
Property damage from trespassing animals:
- Animal owners are strictly liable for reasonably foreseeable damage resulting from their animals trespass on another's property
Personal injuries:
- Wild animals = owners are strictly liable to LICENSEES & INVITEES
- Domestic animals = no strict liability unless owners know of their animals unusually dangerous propensities
- If the dog has bit someone in the past, the owner is
strictly liable
- BUT if its the first time the dog bit someone, the negligence standard applies
- Trespassers cannot recover:
- trespassers are generally not entitled to recovery
- under strict liability