11:55 Done Week 6 - Extra Reading Tort L... CHA Negligence Act Another important concept is joint and several liability. Liability is the state of being responsible to pay compensation for another party's loss. Joint liability arises in situ- ations where there are two or more tortfeasors, such as an employee and the business that employs him, or partners in a firm (discussed in greater detail in Chapter 7), or two engineers who worked on a project. If both are held liable for the harm to the plaintiff, the Negligence Act provides that the plaintiff is entitled to recover the full amount of the damages from either of them. In other words, if Joe and Maria are both liable for harm to Bob, and the court awards damages of $5,000, Bob could demand the entire amount from either Joe or Maria. This allows the plaintiff, Bob, to collect from whoever has the deeper pockets. Even if the court allocates liability between Joe and Maria such that Joe is only 10 percent responsible, he may be required to pay the entire amount. The Negligence Act permits him to then sue Maria for the difference based on their several liability. The Negligence Act also deals with the concept of contributory negligence. The doctrine of contributory negligence allows courts to hold the plaintiff partially responsible for his own injuries. For example, if the purchasing manager who slipped on the oil on the warehouse floor was wearing stiletto heels, particularly if she had been told that she must wear flat shoes with good grip when visiting the warehouse, she may be found to have contributed to her injury by failing to take reasonable care for her own safety. In practice, because a plaintiff will not be required to actually pay himself a portion of the compensation for the loss, a finding of contributory negligence will result in a reduction of the damages by a certain percentage; for example, the defendant may be found liable for only 80 percent of the damages. Elements of a Tort A tort does not exist every time a person is hurt or feels offended. An individual or business that has suffered harm as a result of the actions of another must prove the elements of a tort in order to obtain compensation in tort law. The elements may vary depending on the type of tort, but they almost always include the following: 1. a wrongful actan intentional act or omission or a breach of a duty of care owed to the plaintiff by the defendant, 2. causationthat the wrongful act of the defendant caused the harm, and 3. quantifiable harm-that the harm is measurable in a manner recognized by the law (see Figure 3.1). For example, assume that early on in their business venture, Valery and Mitchell attempt to sell prototypes of the electrical generator that Mitchell developed, from a booth at an outdoor fair, to see if there is a market for the product. It pours all day, and no one buys anything. Valery and Mitchell quarrel and have a miserable time. Mitchell cannot bring a tort action against Valery just because the unsuccessful business venture was her idea. Why not? Figure 3.1 Elements of a Tort WRONGFUL ACT + CAUSATION + QUANTIFIABLE HARM TORT