Tort Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Tort Law - Essay Example In essence, tort law is applicable in circumstances where an individual’s or a group’s negligence, carelessness, and/or failure to take precautionary actions results in other parties’ to incurring pain, losses, discomfort, harm, incapacitation and/or death3. Although they may cause losses and pain to their victims and their loved ones, it should be clear from the onset that not all tort cases are criminal acts. It is therefore imperative that the victim of another’s negligence or carelessness seeks compensation for the loss or pain suffered. In case a victim dies, his/her loved ones or beneficiaries should follow up with the justice system for compensation. An example of a tort case law in the UK is the Hughes versus Lord Advocate of 1963. In this case, workmen from the Post Office had gone for a 5pm tea break leaving an open but protected manhole on Russell Road unattended. A ten-year old child walking on the road with his uncle meddled with the manhole a nd the equipment. He even went down the manhole. On coming out, the appellant tripped and the lamp fell back into the manhole. Its fuel leaked and it exploded making the child to sustain rather serious injuries. The tort case was thus formed on the basis of negligence by the Post Office employees who left the site unattended despite the dangers it posed to the public. Among the issues that came up in the case was whether the accident was foreseeable in nature and if it occurred due to the Post Office employees’ negligence. To properly follow up and be compensated for the losses and pain suffered, tort victims and any other parties ought to know their rights and liabilities. One of the rights of victims of tort is entitlement to receive financial damages from those responsible. Among the accidents for which damages may be paid once categorized as legal injuries include physical and emotional injuries, reputation damages, violation of privacy, constitutional rights violation an d economic injuries that affect a person’s economic stability4. This paper advises parties to an accident scene on their rights and liabilities in tort by apportioning liabilities and identifying predictability, proximity, negligence, liability and reasonability. The Liabilities First and foremost, it is vital that the basic principles and implication of tort lawsuits is known. In such a lawsuit, the appellant or the victim of a loss or harm seeks to make someone else responsible for the problem at hand. Thus, tort is a civil lawsuit in which the victim, who prosecutes instead of the state, seeks not for the defendant to be imprisoned but to be forced to compensate for the loss or injury suffered5. Therefore, tort lawsuits are unlike criminal lawsuits in which are prosecuted by the state and the defendant is punished. Instead, the judgment is in form of a liability, mainly financial payments. That is, all the legally-recognized costs suffered by the victim or his/her families are shifted to the defendant if the latter is found liable. Besides, financial liabilities, defendants may be barred by a court of law from interfering with the plaintiff’s life or wellbeing6. Thus, in some instances, a plaintiff could be awarded disciplinary damages besides the compensation given. However, the plaintiff only stands to be compensated only if the defendant has a legal duty