Law of Torts Te...

Complete the sentence:To constitute trespass actual damage is ………………………..

Principle –Ubi jus ibi remedium . Where there is a legal right, there is a legal remedy.

Facts –Deepti stays at a hotel in Indonesia for three months. After about a month, she gets fed up of the food served at the hotel, so she goes out to buy some ingredients, vegetables, etc. and asks the hotel chef to prepare a vegetarian meal and serve it in her room. The chef does so, but when the meal is served, she is asked to pay for the meal. Deepti, who had already spent a lot on the ingredients, refuses to pay for the simple vegetarian meal. The next day, at the breakfast table, the chef refuses to serve her any food. Deepti decides to sue the chef and claim damages.

‘X ’with a view to murdering ‘Y ’enters ‘Y ’bedroom at night when ‘Y ’is out of station. What is ‘X ’guilty of?

Principle –Whoever stores a substance which would cause damage on escape shall be strictly liable (i.e., liable even when he has exercised necessary care) for any damage caused by the escape of that substance.

Facts –Cobalamine Co. is a manufacturer of hydrogen peroxide which has several industrial uses, but is also dangerous. The Company has one of its factories set up in Dimapur, a small district. While transporting the hydrogen peroxide from that factory to another place in huge containers, the engine of the truck carrying the chemical got overheated, and this triggered an explosion of the concentrated hydrogen peroxide. The truck driver, and several other people on the road were grievously injured. The reaction was shortly contained by an expert team, and investigations revealed that reasonable precautions had been taken to prevent such a mishap.

Q. Will Cobalamine be liable to pay damages to those injured?

What does the legal term Caveat Emptor refer to?

X actually beats B with a stick. He has committed the offence of ………………….

Principle –The master is liable for the wrongful acts of the servant done in the course of employment.

Facts – Pradyuman is a mechanic working in the car mechanics shop owned by Abhjit. Pallavi wants her Audi A8 to be serviced and cleaned, as she is planning to go on a long drive soon. She drops off the car at the mechanic ‘s, and asks Pradyuman to have it ready in two days. Pradyuman, while trying to drive the car to the jet-cleaning area, accidentally bumps it against the wall and a dent is created on the car door. When Pallavi comes to take her serviced car, she is livid at the condition in which it is returned to her, and wishes to sue for damages.

Principle –Volenti non fit injuria - No remedy can be claimed for harm caused through voluntary consent.

​Facts –On a hot, sunny day, Avtar Singh, a traffic policeman wishes to take a break from his work on the Jangpura-Jayanagar junction. He sees a grocery store nearby, and decides to buy some refreshments. To get to the grocery store, he must cross the busy road first. While doing so, he sees that a child has suddenly jumped down from the pavement on the other side, and is attempting to cross the road, despite vehicles hurtling past at a high speed. On seeing an approaching car that the child does not seem to be aware of, Avtar lunges forward and pushes the child out of the way. However, the driver of the car, Mr. Takwani, is unable to stop the car in time and hits Avtar, who sustains serious injuries, including a torn ligament. This means that Avtar will not be able to perform his duties as a traffic policeman for at least six months. He wishes to sue Takwani and claim damages for his loss in income, but Takwani asserts that there was a green light, and he had committed no fault in driving at a reasonable speed. It was Avtar who had suddenly lunged forward, giving him no time to apply the brakes! Decide.

Principle: Harm suffered voluntarily is not actionable in law.

Facts: Dumbdev, a snake charmer, was exhibiting his talents to a group of people. One of the snakes escaped and bit a child who had to be hospitalized for two days for treatment.

PRINCIPLE: Qui facit per alium facit per se, i.e., he who does things through others does it himself.

FACTS: Nisha, the owner of a car, asked her friend Saurabh to take her car and drive the same to her office. As the car was near her office, it hit a pedestrian Srikant on account of Saurabh ’s negligent driving and injured him seriously. Now, Srikant files a suit for damages against Nisha.

PRINCIPLE: When an act, which would otherwise be an offence, is not that offence by reason of the youth, the want of maturity of understanding, the unsoundness of mind or the intoxication of the person doing that act, every person has the same right of private defence against that act, which he would have if the act were that offence. Nothing is an offence which is done in the exercise of the right of private defence.

FACTS: A, under the influence of madness, attempts to kill B. B in order to save his life cause grievous hurt to A.

Assertion (A): when you invite somebody to your house, you cannot sue him for trespass.

Reason (R): one cannot enforce a right which one has voluntarily waived or abandoned

PRINCIPLE:  Whoever, intending to take dishonestly any movable property out of the possession of any person without that person ’s consent moves that property, such taking is said to commit theft.

FACT:  RAMU cuts down a tree on RINKU ’S ground, with the intention of dishonestly taking the tree out of RINKU ’S profession without RINKU ’S consent. A could not take the tree away.

Legal principle: A master will be liable for the wrongful acts of his servants in the course of employment.

Facts: Mahesh was working as a driver in a company Lipton &Co. one day the manager asked him to drop a customer at the airport and get back at the earliest. On his way back from the airport, he happened to see his fianc éRoopa waiting for a bus to go home. He offered to drop her at home, which happened to be close to his office. She got into the car somersaulted due to the negligence of Mahesh. Roopa was thrown out of the car and suffered multiple injuries. She seeks compensation from Lipton &Co.

PRINCIPLE: Res ipsa loquitur, i.e., the thing speaks for itself.

FACTS: Seema got herself operated for the removal of her uterus in the defendant ’s hospital, as there was diagnosed to be a cyst in one of her ovaries. Due the negligence of the surgeon, who performed the operation, abdominal pack was left in her abdomen. The same was removed by a second surgery.