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Putting your best foot forward, after all, that’s what feet are made for, right? Many of us spend a lot of time sedentary at our desks throughout the day so, you need to counteract that time your body thinks it is idle and get up and get moving. Just walk. This is a great workout for your body. On the inside, this cardio-vascular exercise will strengthen your vital organs like your heart and lungs in a relatively small amount of time while boosting your circulation. Exteriorly, this can help with loss of weight including a loss of inches around the waist and can even help to tone those troubled areas. Whether it be a power walk that is moderately high in intensity or a casual stroll, obviously, the effects are going to be greater with the more intensity, but whatever the pace of the day may be, it helps because it is not sedentary, which does nothing for us physically, or mentally! I have heard so many people say their back or knees won’t allow them to exercise, so they concede to a stationary lifestyle that leaves them feeling down in the dumps. Walking is so much easier on your bones and joints than many other exercise options out there. You want to have the best functioning body you can while you are stuck with it and certainly the sharpest mental state you can maintain throughout your life – so get up and get moving! Naturally, with age, muscles weaken and so does the brain. Fight back and protect what you have to work with as long as you can. Getting outdoors and staying active around your home are both free. All it takes is a commitment and determination. Initially, feeling the aches and pains may deter you, but push through it. Rub your feet and stretch your body. ‘No pain, no gain’ does have a bit of truth to it. In no time at all, you will find yourself looking forward to it, even striving to push your limits farther. I have always maintained an exercise regimen throughout my life, but walking is the one that has stuck with me with the most consistently. Three years ago, my neighbor and I committed to walking together. Our goal is to walk four miles about five days a week. We are always implementing something new to keep it exciting whether it be leg weights or arm weights or a sprint here or there, the latest brilliant idea we came up with, is walking backwards up hills. Granted our neighbors think we have lost our marbles and my, it hurts, but that tells us those are muscle we were using before. It challenges us and the best part is – we make it fun! Sometimes we can’t put in the four miles, so we say a couple laps is better than nothing. We both know how easy it is to skip a day or two and it takes a lot to jump back in. So, you have to come up with a plan to combat that when it happens because it will. It happens with all of us. 30 minutes a day would make such a difference in the way you feel. You may not have the physique of a bodybuilder but feeling better is what it is about and keeping yourself functioning to your best capacity in this one life we live. Walk on, friends!

As we have seen, torts are meant as a legal remedy for private wrongs. Negligence is the tort we encounter most often in our daily lives. We also took a look at product liability, premises liability, and intentional torts. This week we take a look at strict liability. Typically, tort law won’t provide a remedy unless the wrongdoer has breached a duty of reasonable care. But there are situations where the law does not require a showing of negligence or any other breach. Where the conduct is considered to be abnormally dangerous, someone may recover simply by showing that the conduct was, in fact, the cause of their injuries. Justice Neeley famously explained the policy behind the strict liability rule: “Where, for example, the defendant has elephants parachuting onto his farmland to entertain his family, he is acting for his own purposes, and is seeking a profit or benefit while creating an abnormal risk. Should the elephant's landing not be on target but rather on my roof, then I would be confounded if it were required that I prove either a negligent pilot or a defective parachute. That would be tantamount to asking about the negligence of the elephant. controls and clearly tells us where the liability lies.” Peneschi v. National Steel Corp., 170 W.Va. 511, 515, 295 S.E.2d 1 (1982) There are many real-life applications of the strict liability rule. The earliest cases applied strict liability to the above ground storage of water or anything else that was “likely to do mischief it escapes.” Through the years, the rule has been applied to many other situations that are inherently dangerous including blasting operations, keeping wild animals, storing explosives or flammable liquids, crop dusting, transporting acids or other corrosives, and disposing of certain kinds of chemical waste. As new technologies are developed, the scope of strict liability will most certainly continue to expand—providing relief whenever the benefits of the activity are greatly outweighed by the potential for injury or death. In the next installment, we’ll turn our focus to medical malpractice.

For my mom, Mother’s Day should have been known as Saint Mother’s Day. From the outside, my mother came across as a soft spoken woman, who didn’t have a malicious bone in her body. She faithfully attended catholic church every Sunday and a number of days a week. She lived by the many principles of the church. She truly was the kindest, sweetest person I had ever known. She never complained about any of the hardships life forced on her. My mom always had a smile and a reassuring attitude, finding the positive in any situation. The message might be you are a stronger person for the experience faced or some other constructive message no matter what the circumstance. My one brother joked that if our house ever caught on fire, my mom would remark how beautiful the flames of the fire were. Always finding some positive conclusion from terrible circumstances, was one of my mom’s traits. With that said, my mother was the strongest person I have ever known. She raised 7 children as a single mom despite many hurdles and while working as a full time nurse. Her children were her life. She had no time for anything else but her faith, working and her children. I could tell hundreds of stories of where my mom made sacrifices for me, my siblings or some person needing help. She would volunteer for “Meals on Wheels” to routinely bring meals to senior citizens, or drive them to appointments. However, I would like to share one story from when I was a boy. We were without a car for a short period of time, probably from the many miles on the car driving her 7 kids to activities or helping out others. I had a basketball game on a cold winter night in February. The school was almost two miles away from my house, with “short cuts” through backyards and fields. My mom walked to the game with me, trudging through what I recall being over a foot of snow and in temperatures well below freezing. She walked with me, so she could watch my game and make sure I got there safely. She did so with a smile on her face and enthusiasm in her voice. She was always doing things for others. That “was” my mother. I say “was” not because she has passed away. I say “was” because she no longer has the capability to be the same person. She no longer can work a full time job. She can no longer drive. She can no longer take care of seven children. She can no longer even dress herself or take care of her daily needs without some assistance. My mom has severe dementia. I dare say she has undiagnosed Alzheimer’s. Seeing my mom have the difficulty, or at times the inability, to confirm the names of her children, or even to recall how many kids she mothered, is extremely difficult. Seeing the lack of recognition in my mom’s eyes for a the first few seconds seeing me between visit is heartbreaking. She has been in assisted living for a several years, yet each time I visit her during my trips back to Boston, she tells me, “you know I don’t live on Greenwood Road anymore.” It is a hideous disease, stealing one’s mind and ability to care for one’s self. It has not completely imprisoned my mother in a world where she doesn’t recognize her children each time or where she is completely unable to talk about some event in the past, but it is coming closer every day. I fear it will be here soon. However, I know as long as she is able to tell me, “I love you a whole big bunch!” all is good. I know that because that is something she heard me telling my young boys years ago during a visit to Pittsburgh. She began saying the same thing to me when we would say good bye and has continued to do so through her most recent challenges. She continues to have a big smile on her face and/or in her voice each time we say good and she tells me, “I love you a whole big bunch!” When she does say this it brings me huge happiness; not because she is telling me she loves me, but because I know if she can still remember that, she has not “passed away” and is still living.

Variety can be one of the things that keeps you motivated in a fitness program, but it can be difficult to achieve. While many gyms offer some group fitness classes, these classes can tend to become repetitive, and if you don’t like a particular type of class that is offered or become bored of it, you are less likely to do it. There are also endless options of workout videos available online, but it can become less than exciting for some people to exercise only in their home. If you are looking for a way to get out and try many different types of fitness classes, check out the facilities at different gyms and studios, and meet new people with similar interests, ClassPass may be a good option for you. ClassPass is a program that allows you to pay a flat monthly fee for a certain number of credits. The number of credits you receive depends on the amount that you choose to pay, for your particular city or area. You are then able to select from a wide variety of different fitness classes at participating studios in the area. Classes are offered pretty much round the clock, so it doesn’t matter whether you are a morning workout person or prefer to go late in the day, you can find something that will fit you schedule, as well as your interests. Not only are there a number of different types of classes, such as indoor cycling, yoga, circuit training, kickboxing, weightlifting, trampoline class, and many others, you can try the same type of class at different gyms with different instructors. That way, if you just don’t care much for a spin class at a particular gym, you may not have to write spin classes off entirely, but instead can just check out another one to see if it works better for you. ClassPass can be accessed from logging in on a computer or through the app that you can download to your phone. They generally offer a free week trial period with some credits so you can give it a try before fully committing, and they also offer reward credits or classes for referring a friend. You can “friend” other ClassPass members on the app as well, and see what kinds of classes your friends are taking and what kind of feedback and rating they have given to classes you may be interested in. The app also allows you to send a calendar event for any class you register for directly to your calendar, making it easier to schedule your workouts into your day and to plan ahead. So if you are looking to mix up your fitness endeavors, check it out! You might find your new favorite activity or gym, or just enjoy spicing up your workout routine.

The Pennsylvania Superior Court recently issued a decision that is of great importance to those attorneys practicing in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Specifically, the court refused to apply the “palpable-error” deference standard announced in McHugh v. Procter & Gamble, 776 A.2d 266 (Pa. Super. 2001) to the jury selection process in Allegheny County. In the case of Triggs v. Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, 2018 PA Super 129 (Pa. Super. 2018), the court determined that Allegheny County Civil Division’s jury selection process deprived the Triggs’ right to a fair trial. The Civil Division of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County does not assign a trial judge to preside over jury selection. Instead, the “Calendar Control Judge” delegates that duty to a court clerk in the Jury Assignment Room. Potential jurors meet individually with the clerk and the parties’ attorneys. The clerk asks a series of standardized questions, and then the lawyers may pose five additional inquires. The clerk permits brief follow-up questions in an effort to fully appreciate the jurors’ replies. If an attorney wishes to challenge a juror for cause, the clerk notes the challenge, and, after interviewing all potential jurors, the clerk and attorneys return to the Calendar Control Judge’s courtroom. There, the judge, reading the transcript of what occurred just moments ago, and only a few yards away, rules on the challenges for cause. Allegheny County judges in the civil division do not view the demeanor of prospective jurors, unless an attorney asks for the juror to appear before the judge in chambers to recreate the initial voir dire. During the jury selection process, the Triggs moved to strike three potential jurors for cause believing that they exhibited such bias and prejudice that they could not be fair and impartial. A transcript was made of the jury selection process; the Calendar Control Judge reviewed the transcript and denied the Triggs’ request, thereby forcing the Triggs to exhaust three of their four pre-emptory challenges during jury selection. The case went to trial and resulted in a verdict for the defense. The Triggs appealed claiming that Allegheny County Civil Division’s jury selection process deprived the them of their right to a fair trial. On appeal, the Triggs attacked the trial court’s voir dire process on various grounds. First, they argued that the judge erred by not striking for cause the three “potential jurors" who exhibited such bias and prejudice that they could not have been fair. The hospital, quoting McHugh, countered, “hen a juror demonstrates a likelihood of prejudice by conduct or answers to questions, much depends on the answers and demeanor of the potential juror as observed by the trial judge and therefore reversal is appropriate only in the case of palpable error.” The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, in adopting McHugh, recently explained: We defer to the trial judge because it is he or she that observes the juror’s conduct and hears the juror’s answers. The juror appears before the trial judge, who sees him and hears what is said; and is able to form his opinion as much from the proposed juror's conduct as from the words which he utters, printed in the record. Hesitation, doubt, and nervousness indicating an unsettled frame of mind, with other matters, within the judge's view and hearing, but which it is impossible to place in the record, must be considered. As it is not possible to bring these matters to our attention, the trial judge's view should be given great weight in determining the matters before him. Shinal v. Toms, 162 A.3d 429, 443-442 (Pa. 2017). Thus, the High Court placed great significance on the trial judge’s personal observation of the prospective jurors. In Triggs, the court determined that a judge personally witnessing the original voir dire is essential, because it justifies the appellate court’s faith, and a losing party’s faith in the trial court’s rulings on challenges for cause. In this case. The court found that the trial judge personally observed nothing; therefore, the count found no reason to extend the McHugh deference standard in this situation, where only the attorneys and the clerk witnessed the physical and verbal cues that the challenged jurors exhibited. The court explained that the trial judge acquired none of the wisdom or insight that he could have from noting a jurors’ furtive glance, a tremor of voice, a delayed reply, a change in posture, or myriads of other body language. Thus, according to the court, the McHugh deference standard did not apply. Nonetheless, the hospital argued that the Triggs’ failure to request a recreation of the initial questioning in this case constituted a waiver of this issue. The Triggs disagreed arguing that the time to assess the demeanor had passed that it was the prospective jurors “first impression” was what mattered. The court disagreed with the hospital regarding the re-questioning of the prospective jurors reasoning that they could never reproduce the authentic reactions that they displayed when the questions were originally asked. Additionally, the court believed that if the jurors are individually summoned from the panel to the Calendar Control Judge’s chambers for re-questioning, those jurors will have had extra time to rethink their answers. “They may even suspect there was a problem with their original responses and try to ‘fix’ them.” Finally, the court rejected the Hospital attempts to excuse the judge’s absence by relying on Rule of Civil Procedure 220.3(c), which provides: “The parties or their attorneys may conduct the examination of the prospective jurors unless the court itself conducts the examination or otherwise directs that the examination be conducted by a court employee. Any dispute shall be resolved by the court.” Again, the court determined that by not contemporaneously observing the jurors’ responses, when ruling on challenges for cause, the trial judge deprived himself of any greater perception of the jurors’ partiality than an appellate court can discern by reviewing the same, cold record. Thus, McHugh’s rationale for reversing only in the face of palpable error does not apply. Thus, the court held that the McHugh “palpable-error” deference standard shall be limited to instances where a trial judge has personally observed the original voir dire. Instead, the court applied a de novo scope of review, and in doing so found the first prospective juror to be biased in favor of physicians because her sister and brother-in-law were both doctors, and if “in a close call” she would tend to favor the medical profession. Citing to Shinal, the court reaffirmed that even “the slightest ground of prejudice is sufficient” to disqualify a potential juror. The court in citing to Commonwealth v. Johnson, 445 A.2d 509, 514 (Pa. Super. 1982) determined that the error in not striking the biased juror for cause was not harmless as it required the Triggs to use a preemptory challenge to have the biased juror removed. Accordingly, the court reversed the order denying a new trial and vacating the judgment entered upon the verdict, and remanded the matter for a new jury selection and trial.

The weather is getting warmer and one of my favorite beverages to enjoy while basking in the warm sun is Sun Tea. It’s called Sun Tea because all you need are a few ingredients and the sun to make it. It’s easy to make and the flavor is powerful. On mornings I know the weather is going to be incredible I prepare this drink and carry on preparing for my day while the tea is steeping. Typically, when I make this drink I plan on either having a refreshing summer salad or going the complete opposite and putting something on the grill. There are tons of Sun Tea recipes, but I thought I’d share my favorite Sun Tea recipe. INGREDIENTS: 8-12 tea bags (depending on how strong you like your tea) Fresh mint leaves Sugar or honey (optional) Lemon (optional) 1 gallon of water DIRECTIONS: Place the tea bags and mint in bottom of a large pitcher. Slowly fill with water. Cover the pitcher and place outside for at least 4 hours on a sunny or warm day. Bring inside and strain tea. Add sugar, honey or lemon if desired. Serve with ice and enjoy.

As we all know, car accidents happen on a daily basis due to a variety of reasons, but most commonly that reason being human error. However, with the rise of technology has come the self-driving car. This product, although still in the testing phase, has claimed to be the new-coming of a better means of driving as these vehicles are alleged to take out the human error associated with driving and in place, have a system that lacks distraction and negligence. Regardless of these intentions however, the use of the self-driving car is sure to bring forth a new set of legal issues and a niche in the law in which many attorneys may find themselves practicing. Additionally, the question then comes – how will the law be developed in this regard? Will new laws be set forth which govern accidents involving self-driving cars? Will self-driving car accidents be premised on negligence or products liability suits? Only the time will tell. However, what we have seen so far in regard to these self-driving cars that are being developed is that they are far from perfect. For example, a tragic accident occurred with an Uber self-driving vehicle on March 18, 2018 in Arizona. News reports state that on this date, a woman was walking across the street with her bicycle at which time an uber self-driving vehicle, traveling autonomously, although with a human “safety driver” inside, tragically struck the pedestrian. More recent reports show that the accident is believed to have occurred because Uber’s software in the vehicle that would have prevented the vehicle from striking the woman “was tuned in such a way that it ‘decided’ it didn’t need to take evasive action, and possibly flagged the detection as a ‘false positive’. The reason a system would do this, according to the report, is because there are a number of situations where the computers that power an autonomous car might see something it thinks is a human or some other obstacle. Uber reportedly set that threshold so low, though, that the system saw a person crossing the road with a bicycle and determined that immediate evasive action wasn’t necessary.” Sean O’Kane wrote in a May 7 th article. Accordingly, it appears from reading these reports that such an accident was caused by a defect in Uber’s software; however, these reports also state that the “safety driver” in the vehicle was also looking down at the time of the incident thus failing to prevent the accident as well. Thus, the question then arises, who is responsible for such an accident? Uber, the safety driver, the manufacturer of the vehicle? As self-driving vehicles become more prevalent it’s likely that all of these issues will be thoroughly discussed and argued, and further, that this area of the law will continue to emerge.

In my blog from May 10, we covered a few of the most common torts. We saw that torts are private wrongs for which a private remedy is provided, usually in the form of monetary compensation. Negligence is the best-known tort and the one we encounter most in our daily lives. Product liability and premises liability are torts that are also fairly common. But there are other torts we should probably know and recognize. Intentional torts cover a wide range of conduct. In negligence cases, the issue is whether someone violated a duty of care.  Intentional torts are concerned with violating someone’s personal rights or dignity. For example, the law recognizes that everyone has the right to be free from unwanted touching. If someone violates that right – by, say, intentionally throwing a punch – the offender has committed a battery and is liable for damages. The law also recognizes the right to freely possess and use one’s property. Intentionally interfering with that right is known as conversion. As Shakespeare famously said, we also have a right to our good name and reputation. If someone intentionally publishes falsehoods about us that damage our reputation, the law provides a remedy through the tort of defamation. Oftentimes, conduct amounting to an intentional tort may also be a crime. That’s perfectly ok. Obviously, the government has an interest in prosecuting crimes to promote the public good and to punish wrongdoers. Tort law, however, is meant to give victims a means of recovering compensation for the losses they may have suffered. Another tort that is the spotlight today is known as nuisance. This tort is being used more frequently in Ohio and West Virginia with the expansion of Marcellus gas drilling. Basically, nuisance involves an unreasonable use of land that interferes with another landowner’s enjoyment of his own land. Suppose a gas company drills a well near a residence, and the light, soot, and constant noise are interfering with the resident’s homelife. Nuisance law could provide a remedy under those circumstances. I’ll have more to say about tort law in my next blog.

Like many people, my family and I have enjoyed camping over the years. We recently sold the fifth wheel camper that we’ve had for the last 12 years. The camper was beginning to show some signs of age, had a little bit of water damage due to a leak, and we no longer needed one quite that big. So, we decided it was time to sell it and look for a new, smaller one. It didn’t take long to find a buyer—we were fair about the price, and it was still a pretty nice camper, despite its age. As I watched the new buyer pull it out of my yard, I couldn’t help but feel a little sad. It was the third camper that we’ve owned, and we had owned it longer than any other. I basically watched my children grow up in this camper, so it was a little more special to me than the others. We have so many good memories of times spent in the camper. It’s what we lived in every year at the county fair when our kids showed their animals, and where I hugged my daughter as she cried the night her market hog was sold at auction. It’s where my son got in trouble for sneaking beer when he was a teenager (I guess that doesn’t count as a “good” memory). It was our home at Jamboree in the Hills, several Nascar races, and it even made a couple of trips to the beach. We also took many, many camping trips in it, and it provided my husband with shelter and a place to stay when he was working out of town. Maybe what they say is true — “home is where the heart is”, and it doesn’t really matter if it’s your permanent home, or a home on wheels. We thought we didn’t want another camper, but then we started reminiscing about all of the good times we’ve had in years past and decided we couldn’t give up camping completely just yet. After all, we have five grandsons to make new camping memories with.

The Young Lawyers’ Division of the Allegheny County Bar Association is involved with a Pittsburgh-based non-profit organization called Beverly’s Birthdays, and recently hosted a fundraiser to support the organization and its cause. The purpose of the organization is to provide birthday experiences to young children whose families are experiencing homelessness or are otherwise unable to provide birthday gifts or treats. This is accomplished through a variety of programs, including birthday parties that are hosted at agency locations by volunteers and donors who set up the parties, provide foods, treats and gifts. Families may also be eligible to receive “birthdays in a bag,” which are pre-packaged bags with items such as cake mix, candles, napkins, and plates so that a family is able host a small birthday party at their own location. Children in the Beverly’s Birthdays program can also receive a birthday gift, which contains age appropriate toys, a new book, and a set of toothbrush and toothpaste, or for newborns, parents may receive essential items for their new child. Beverly’s Birthdays also partners with schools in the Pittsburgh area to provide classroom birthday cheer kits, to help recognize students’ birthdays in the classroom where these children may otherwise have no opportunity to have their birthday acknowledged and celebrated. The program was founded by Megs Yunn, and is named  “Beverly’s Birthdays” because of a little girl named Beverly, who informed Ms. Yunn that she had never had a birthday party or birthday cake. This inspired Ms. Yunn to find a way to help children like Beverly experience the simple pleasure of a birthday celebration. The organization has grown significantly over its existence, and now helps thousands of children in the Pittsburgh area. Beverly’s Birthday relies on volunteers and donors, and there are many different ways that you can get involved. You can volunteer to help staff the birthday parties, bake cupcakes or put together birthday cheer packages. You can also donate in a number of ways, including on a monthly basis, or as a sponsor for a particular party or event. Gift donations are also always welcome. Special restrictions may apply to certain volunteer opportunities, so be sure to check the website for more information on how you can get involved, www.beverlysbirthdays.org. This is a great way to make an easy, yet very special, impact on a number of local children and to spread birthday cheer year-round!

I recently decided I should write a blog discussing the process of evaluating a client’s case for settlement purposes. The first part of that blog entry was published back on Tuesday, May 8. This is Part 2. Factor #3 in the case valuation process is the nature of the injury sustained. Cases where the injuries are obvious and apparent to anyone who looks are generally easier to prove (and settle) than cases of less obvious (but equally painful and problematic) “soft tissue” injuries. To explain, imagine the case where the plaintiff suffers a broken arm in a car wreck. That plaintiff is taken to the hospital, where x-rays of her arm are taken. The doctor looks at the x-rays and can clearly see the fracture. The insurance company can’t really argue about the nature of the client’s injury, because it’s on an x-ray for the whole world to see. Contrast that with the case where the client’s vehicle was violently struck from behind by another car doing 35mph. She was wearing her seat belt, so fortunately she didn’t sustain any broken bones. The problem is that the muscles and tendons in her neck and back were seriously damaged by being ripped back and forth much faster and much farther than nature designed them to go. We know the pain from such damage is both severe and long-lasting, but the injury is not one that shows up on x-rays or similar tests. We can’t just put up some film and point to the injury; it is one that a doctor has to diagnose based upon a variety of clinical factors. Because of that, factor #4 comes into play. Factor #4 is the adverse medical exam. When you file a lawsuit seeking damages for injuries you have sustained, the defense is almost always given the opportunity to require you to undergo an adverse medical examination. Put simply, this means the company can select a doctor to examine you and then write a report expressing his opinion on whether or not you are actually hurt. The doctors chosen by the insurance carriers often derive a very substantial portion of their annual income from doing these examinations for insurance companies. It is not at all unusual for an AME doctor to testify that he makes as much as $200,000 or more each year by testifying for insurance companies. These companies know which doctors are going to give them opinions that are favorable to the defense (i.e., the plaintiff isn’t really hurt), so do I really have to tell you which doctors get the bulk of the insurance companies’ business? I recently tried a case where the AME doctor changed his opinion no less than three times, all because the defense lawyer called him and convinced him to do so. No doctor wants to see $200,000 in annual income go away, and that is exactly what will happen if he starts giving opinions that aren’t favorable to the insurance company that hires him. Because of this obvious bias, most adverse medical exam reports aren’t worth the paper they are written on. Nevertheless, juries will hear from these hired guns, and that fact has to be considered when determining case value. Factor #5 is the whether or not your injury is considered to be “permanent”. Is this something that is going to affect you for the rest of your life, or is it something that will become a distant, unpleasant memory after several months of therapy and treatment? For obvious reasons, a permanent injury results in a higher settlement value for the case under consideration. The last factor I will discuss is one that is often overlooked by clients but can be the most significant factor in obtaining the best settlement value for the client. Keep watching the Bordas & Bordas blog for the “final factor”.

What exactly is a “tort”? Most of us have a pretty good understanding of what criminal law is. Criminal law always involves wrongs that are committed against the values and norms of society. Therefore, a criminal case is always initiated by the government. If you are found guilty of a crime, you may be imprisoned or required to pay a fine. Tort law is a way of providing a remedy for personal wrongs – conduct that causes injury, damage or loss to another person. The government is not involved. Instead, the law authorizes the injured party to sue the wrongdoer directly and to recover a sum of money to compensate for the injury. The most common form of tort is negligence. Basically, negligence is failing to act reasonably under the circumstances. We usually think of cases involving car wrecks, but negligence is meant to cover almost every aspect of life. Hospitals can be negligent in providing care or hiring physicians to their staff. Architects can be negligent in designing buildings. Accountants can be negligent in auditing the books of their customers. Wherever there is the potential to cause harm through neglectful or unreasonable conduct, you’ll find the law of negligence. Tort law also covers what is known as premises liability. Generally, the owner of a business or any other property that’s open to the public owes a duty of reasonable care to those who enter. Even private property owners must exercise reasonable care to protect the safety of guests and others who are invited onto the property. If you violate this duty of care, you may be liable for any damages resulting from your lack of care. Another kind of tort is known as product liability. Those who manufacture, distribute or sell a product to the public can be liable if the product causes injury. In product liability cases, the focus shifts from the conduct of the parties to the product itself. Every product has some potential to cause harm. The question in a product liability case boils down to this. Was the product reasonably safe for its intended use? These can be complicated cases, requiring the jury to consider all of the risks and benefits associates with the product. If the jury finds that the product was not reasonably safe, then damages can be awarded. We’ll cover more torts in the next blog.