standards of tort liability

menu of sources

Federal Material

Federal Judicial Decisions

• U.S. Supreme Court:
  • Recent Right of Publicity or Privacy Decisions
  • liibulletin Oral Argument Previews
• U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals: Recent Right of Publicity or Privacy Decisions

State Material

State Judicial Decisions

• N.Y. Court of Appeals:
  • Recent Right of Publicity or Privacy Decisions
  • Commentary from liibulletin-ny
  • Search N.Y. Court of Appeals Decisions
• Appellate Decisions from Other States

Other References

• Good Starting Point in Print: J. Thomas McCarthy, The Rights of Publicity And Privacy, West Group (1987)

other topics

• Category: Intellectual Property
• Category: Individual Rights

Overview

Punitive damages are awarded in addition to actual damages in certain circumstances. Punitive damages are considered punishment and are typically awarded at the court's discretion when the defendant's behavior is found to be especially harmful. Punitive damages are normally not awarded in the context of a breach of contract claim. See e.g. O'Gilvie Minors v.

• damages
• punitive damages
• contracts
• contract law

“Reasonable” means just, rational, appropriate, ordinary, or usual under the circumstances.

The level of care that a reasonable person would exercise in such circumstances. Failure to exercise reasonable care may lead to liability, if such a failure caused an injury; while exercise of reasonable care can establish that a party acted reasonably and is not liable. For example, in the famous 1856 English case of Blyth v.

A legal standard applied to defendants in negligence cases to ascertain their liability. All members of the community owe a duty to act as a reasonable person in undertaking or avoiding actions with the risk to harm others. If an individual fails to act as a reasonable person and their failure injures someone, they may be liable to that person for such injuries.

Reasonable speed is the speed at which it is safe to drive an automobile considering road conditions and other circumstances, such as rain, ice, traffic, the vehicle's condition, or visibility. Reasonable speed may be less than the posted speed limit and will never exceed the posted speed limit.

Behavior that is so careless that it is considered an extreme departure from the care a reasonable person would exercise in similar circumstances. As mens rea (mental state) in the criminal law context, reckless action is distinguished from negligent action in that the actor consciously disregards a substantial and unjustified risk, as opposed to merely being unreasonable.

See reckless.

[Last reviewed in May of 2024 by the Wex Definitions Team]

Operating an automobile in a reckless manner. In most jurisdictions, reckless driving is a misdemeanor. Determining whether an individual’s operation of an automobile constitutes reckless driving is often a fact intensive inquiry. To illustrate, New York Vehicle & Traffic Laws § 1212 makes reckless driving a misdemeanor and defines it as “driving or using any motor vehicle . . .