| A | B |
|---|
| Tort | a private wrong committed by one person against another |
| intentional tort | occurs when a person knows and desires the consequences of his or her act, most of the time, actions that deliberately hurt, embarrass, or scare people |
| unintentional tort | a person does not desire the consequences of his or her act |
| tortfeasor | the person who committed the tort |
| trepass | the wrongful damage to or interference with the property of another which can be movable items and nonmovable items |
| nuisance | anything that interferes with the enjoyment of life or property. Examples: Loud noises at night, noxious odors or smoke or fumes coming from a nearby house |
| false imprisonment | when someone interferes with a person's right to move around freely |
| defamation | the wrongful act of injuring another's reputation by making false statements--it is divided into two categories--libel and slander |
| libel | false statement in written or printed form that injures another's reputation or reflects negatively on the person's character |
| slander | false statement made orally to a third person |
| invasion of privacy | interfering with a person's right to be left alone, which includes the right to be free from unwanted publicity and interference with private matters |
| Federal Privacy Act of 1974 | provides safeguards for individuals against the invasion of privacy by agencies of the federal government |
| Fair Credit Reporting Act | credit bureaus must, on request, inform you about information they have on file about you |
| Right to Financial Privacy Act | forbids financial institutions from opening your records, most of which are kept in computer files, to the government without appropriate authorization from you or without an official court order |
| negligence | injury caused by a person's mere carelessness--it is an accidental or unintentional tort |
| strict liability | injury caused by an individual's participation in ultrahazardous activity |
| breach of duty | failure to use the degree of care required under the curcumstances |
| duty of care | reasonable standard of care to prevent injury to others |
| proximate cause | the legal connection between unreasonable conduct and the resulting harm. Basically, proximate cause or legal cause exists when the link betweeen the negligent conduct and the injury is strong enough to be recognized by the law |
| foreseeability test | determines proximate cause by asking: "was the injury to the plaintiff foreseeable at the time that the defendant engaged in the unreasonable conduct?" |
| contributory negligence | behavior by the plaintiff that helps cause his or her injuries |
| comparative negligence | the negligence of each part is compared, and the amount of the plaintiff's recovery is reduced by the percent of his or her negligence |
| assumption of risk | plaintiff knew of the risk involved in an activity and still took the chance of being injured |
| strict liabiltiy | imposition of liability without fault for injuries caused as the result of engaging in ultra-hazardous activities. In other words, liability will always follow any injury that results from those activities |
| product liability | people are injured from defects in products that they brought in the marketplace |
| compensate | to counterbalance |
| confidential | private, secret |
| distress | seizure and detention |
| reasonable | rational, fair |
| foreseeable | reasonably anticipated |
| objective | realistic, impartial |
| disparagement | lies about objects |
| conversion | interferring with a person's right to personal property |
