Detailed table of contents

• Author: Philip H. Osborne
• Profession: Faculty of Law. The University of Manitoba
• Pages: vii-xvii

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION xix

PREFACE TO THIS EDITION xxi

CHAPTER 1:

INTRODUCTION 1

1. An Exemplary Torts Case 2

   1) Criminal Law and Tort Law Contrasted 2

   2) The Tort Litigation 3

2. The Origins of Canadian Tort Law 7

3. The Elements of Canadian Tort Law 8

   1) The Nature of the Defendant’s Conduct 8

   2) The Nature of the Plaintiff’s Loss 9

4. The Objectives of Tort Law 12

   1) The Moralist View 12

   2) The Instrumentalist View 13

   a) Compensation 13

   b) Punishment 14

   c) Deterrence 14

   i) Specific Deterrence 14

   ii) General Deterrence 15

   iii) Market Deterrence 15

   d) Psychological Dimensions 16

   e) Education 16

   f) The Ombudsperson Role 17

5. Personal Injury, Tort Law, and Other Compensatory Vehicles 18

   1) Governmental Initiatives 19

   2) Private Sector First-Party Insurance 22

6. The Organization of Tort Law 23

   Further Readings 23

   CHAPTER 2:

   NEGLIGENCE: BASIC PRINCIPLES 25

1. Introduction 25

2. The Standard of Care: The Reasonably Careful Person 27

   1) Application of the Standard of Care 29

   a) Foreseeable Risk 30

   b) The Likelihood of Damage 31

   c) The Seriousness of the Threatened Harm 32

   d) The Cost of Preventive Measures 33

   e) The Utility of the Defendant’s Conduct 34

   f) Emergency Situations 36

   g) Custom and Approved Practice 36

   h) Post-Accident Precautions 38

   i) Judicial Policy 39

   j) Economic Analysis 40

   k) The Equity of the Case 41

   l) Hindsight Bias 41

   2) Special Standards of Care 42

   a) Mental Disability 42

   b) Children 45

   c) Physical Disability 47

   d) Superior Skill and Knowledge 47

   3) Proof of Negligence: Direct and Circumstantial Evidence 49

3. Causation 53

   1) Cause-in-Fact 53

   2) Alternative Liability 60

   3) Joint Tortfeasors (Concerted Action) 61

   4) Market Share Liability 61

   5) Loss of a Chance 63

   6) Multiple Tortfeasors Causing Indivisible Damage 64

4. Damage 65

5. The Duty of Care 67

   1) Categories 72

   2) Foreseeability 72

   3) Proximity 73

   4) Residual Policy Factors 74

   5) Three Categories 74

   a) Duties of Affirmative Action 75

   b) The Duty Owed to Rescuers 82

   c) Psychiatric Injury (Nervous Shock) 85

   6) Formulating the Duty of Care 93

6. Remoteness of Damage 94

   1) The Reasonable Foreseeability Rule 95

   2) The Interpretation of Reasonable Foreseeability 96

   a) The Mechanics of the Accident 96

   b) The Likelihood of Damage 97

   c) Linkage 98

   d) The Demarcation of Damage 99

   e) The Elasticity of Foreseeability 99

   3) Special Remoteness Issues 100

   a) The Thin-Skull Rule 100

   b) Intervening Acts (Novus Actus Interveniens) 102

   c) Suicide 106

7. Defences 107

   1) Contributory Negligence 108

   2) Voluntary Assumption of Risk (Volenti Non Fit Injuria) 112

   3) Illegality (Ex Turpi Causa Non Oritur Actio) 116

   4) Inevitable Accident 118

8. Remedies 118

   1) Personal Injury 119

   a) Lump Sum Award 120

   b) Special and General Damages 121

   c) Guidelines 121

   d) Future Care Costs 122

   e) Loss of Earning Capacity 123

   f) Non-pecuniary Loss 126

   g) Collateral Benefits 127

   h) Management Fees 127

   i) The Impact of the Trilogy 128

   j) An Illustrative Case of Personal Injury Damages Assessment 128

   2) Death 130

   a) Fatal Accidents Legislation 130

   b) Survivorship Legislation 133

   i) Actions against the Estate 134

   ii) Actions by the Estate 134

   3) Property Damage 134

   a) Chattels 135

   b) Realty 135

   Further Readings 136

   CHAPTER 3:

   SPECIAL TOPICS IN NEGLIGENCE 139

1. Introduction 139

2. Products Liability 140

   1) Manufacturing Defects 140

   2) The Duty to Warn 142

   a) Medical Products and the Learned Intermediary Rule 144

   3) Reasonable Care in Design 147

3. The Doctrine of Informed Consent to Medical Treatment 148

   1) The Duty of Care 149

   2) The Standard of Care 150

   3) Causation (Cause-in-Fact) 153

4. Human Reproduction 156

   1) Prenatal Injuries 156

   2) Wrongful Birth 158

   3) Wrongful Life 159

   4) Wrongful Pregnancy 160

5. Occupiers’ Liability 161

   1) The Classical Common Law of Occupiers’ Liability 162

   2) The Modern Common Law of Occupiers’ Liability 164

   3) Legislative Reform 166

6. Breach of Statutory Duty 169

7. Pure Economic Loss 174

   1) Negligent Misrepresentation 176

   a) Duty of Care 179

   i) Foreseeable Reliance/Reasonable Reliance: The Prima Facie Duty of Care 179

   ii) Policy Concerns: The Issue of Indeterminacy 183

   b) Standard of Care, Causation, and Contributory Negligence 185

   2) Negligent Performance of a...