| A | B |
|---|
| negligence | the failure to exercise a reasonable amount of care in either doing or not doing something, resulting in harm or injury to another person |
| elements | the conditions that make an act unlawful |
| duty | a legal obligation |
| breaches | violations of a law, duty or other form of obligation, including obligations formed through contracts or warranties, either by engaging in an action or failing to act |
| causation | the reason an event occurs; that which produces an effect. One of the four elements that must be proven in a negligence case, it is subdivided into cause in fact and proximate cause |
| cause in fact | one of the elements a plaintiff must prove in order to establish causation in a negligence suit. It means that if the harm would not have occurred without the wrongful act, the act is the cause in fact |
| proximate cause | in negligence law, this concept limits damages the defendant must pay to only those harms that are reasonably predictable consequences of the defendant’s wrongful acts |
| foreseeable harm | a concept used in negligence (tort) law to limit the liability of a party to those acts carrying a risk of foreseeable harm, meaning a reasonable person would be able to predict or expect the ultimately harmful result of their actions |
| damages | the injuries or losses suffered by one person due to the fault of another |
| contributory negligence | a legal defense in which it is determined that the plaintiff and defendant share the fault for a negligence tort. If proven, the plaintiff cannot recover damages |
| comparative negligence | in a tort suit, a finding that the plaintiff was partly at fault and, therefore, does not deserve full compensation for his or her injuries. For example, if the accident was 40% the plaintiff’s fault, the plaintiff’s damages are reduced by 40%. |
| counterclaim | a claim made by a defendant against the plaintiff in a civil lawsuit |
| assumption of risk | a legal defense to a negligence tort, whereby the plaintiff is considered to have voluntarily accepted a known risk of danger |
