Elements
In order to prove negligence per se, the plaintiff must show that
- the defendant violated the statute,
- the statute provides for a criminal penalty (i.e., fines or imprisonment) but not by civil penalties,
- the act caused the kind of harm the statute was designed to prevent, and
- the plaintiff was a member of the statute's protected class.
In some jurisdictions, negligence per se creates merely a rebuttable presumption of negligence.
A typical example is one in which a contractor violates a building code when constructing a house. The house then collapses, injuring somebody. The violation of the building code establishes negligence per se and the contractor will be found liable, so long as the contractor's breach of the code was the cause (proximate cause and actual cause) of the injury.
Read more about this topic: Negligence Per Se
Famous quotes containing the word elements:
“The three great elements of modern civilization, gunpowder, printing, and the Protestant religion.”
—Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881)
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It is through friendships that teenagers learn to take responsibility, provide support, and give their loyalty to non- family members. It is also in teenage friendships that young people find confidants with whom to share thoughts and feelings that they are not comfortable sharing with their parents. Such sharing becomes one of the elements of true intimacy, which will be established later.”
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—Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)