•
Invasion of privacy involves unwanted production of negative public information. Different standards
apply to invasion of privacy based on the status of the individual as a public figure.
Negligence
Negligence is another type of tort that has two meanings. It is the name of a cause of action in a tort, and it is
a form of conduct that does not meet the reasonable standard of care (Kionka, 2013). The cause of action is
the reason for the damage, and the standard of care is based on the care that a reasonable person would
need in a given situation. Negligence is decided by determining the duty of the defendant, whether or not the
defendant committed a breach of that duty, the cause of the injury, and the injury itself.
For an action to be deemed negligent, there must be a legal duty of care, or responsibility to act, based on the
reasonable standard in a situation (Baime, 2018). An individual can be considered negligent if he agreed to
watch a child, but did not do so, and then harm came to the child. An individual would not be considered
negligent if he did not know that he was supposed to watch the child, or did not agree to watch the child.
Figure 6.3
If an individual agrees to watch a child and the child is injured while that person pays attention to
her cell phone, it would be considered negligence. (Credit: JESHOOTScom/ pixabay/ License: CC0)
A reasonable person is defined as someone who must exercise reasonable care based on what he or she
knows about the situation, how much experience he or she has with the situation, and how he or she perceives
the situation (Kionka, 2013). In some cases, this knowledge could be based on common knowledge of
community matters, such as knowing that a bridge is closed for repairs.
In some cases, the duty of care is based on a special relationship, which is a relationship based on an implied
duty of care. This implied duty of care often comes about as a duty to aid, or a duty to protect another, e.g., a
nurse caring for patients in a hospital, or a lifeguard being responsible for swimmers in the guarded area
(Baime, 2018). A passerby does not have a duty to aid, but if the individual tries to help, then he or she is
responsible for acting responsibly.
The elements of a negligence cause of action are (Kionka, 2013):
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Chapter 6 The Tort System
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