These eight lectures address two important questions: When is someone else legally responsible for harm done to you? When are you legally responsible for harm done to someone else? This course of eight lectures discusses torts, the body of law designed to redress through civil litigation harms done to persons. As with all bodies of law, in order to analyze the legal implications of a potentially tortious action, it is necessary to blend common sense and pragmatic thinking with an understanding of legal definitions as they have evolved over time. This series not only explains the basics of this substantive body of law, but it also gives insight through examples of how the law is based on a logical idea of a just outcome. Topics you'll explore here include the basic foundations of torts law, the three categories of which it is composed, and the legal factors necessary to find a person liable for a tort; negligence, especially of property owners, and the defenses that can be offered against allegations of negligence; the expanding tort of infliction of emotional distress, which can be either negligent or intentional, but which must pass several specific tests before it can be definitely labeled tortious; third-party intervention in contracts and prospective business; the legal implications of misappropriation of information; and trademark law.
