TORTS

Fall 2010 Mr. Speta SYLLABUS Torts is the branch of law that defines legally protected interests and the remedies that may be had if those interests are wrongfully invaded. It differs from contracts in that the law supplies the terms of the relationship among people, although parties may often contract out of the rules that tort law supplies. Although the topic is much broader, the most visible, current examples of tort law are products liability and personal injury law. I urge you to read the introduction to the casebook for an additional perspective on the scope of tort law (and on the plan of the casebook itself). 1. Required Materials Richard A. Epstein, Cases and Materials on Torts (9th ed. 2008). 2. Assignments The casebook assignments are attached. The assignments are designed to track our class sessions very closely. Some assignments are longer than others and may not be covered in a single day. However, each assignment reflects one or more topics and should be read as a unit. As you will no doubt notice, the number of assignments is fewer than our scheduled 39 class sessions. This will give us a little time to be flexible and, hopefully, to read some supplemental materials (to be provided later). 3. Office Hours My office is 207 Levy Mayer. I will have a guaranteed office hour on Wednesday from 3:30-4:30 p.m. I am generally at school during normal business hours, and you are welcome to drop by at any time, although I may be in the library or in the middle of a writing project. I can be reached through e-mail: j-speta@northwestern.edu. 4. Teaching Assistant The teaching assistant for the course is John Taddei. He will generally attend class, and his e-mail address is j-taddei2012@nlaw.northwestern.edu. 5. Exams and Paper I will give an anonymous practice exam, which will be graded (for feedback purposes) but not recorded. There will be two graded assignments: a short paper and a traditional final examination. The short paper will be on a topic covered during class, and will not require -1-

additional research. The final examination will be open book. Students may bring any materials to the examination. Attendance and class participation matter. Missing class for religious holidays or similar reasons will not have consequences in grading. 6. Website I will post anything that is distributed in class on the Blackboard site. I am also going to experiment with a Discussion Board on the site. You can subscribe to it that is, make sure that you receive an email whenever there is a posting to it. 7. Supplemental Resources There are a number of very good hornbooks in this area. The classic multivolume treatises by Prosser and by Harper, Gray, and James are excellent. Professor Marshall Shapo has published a hornbook, Basic Principles of Tort Law, which is a very good, concise summary.

-2-

ASSIGNMENTS Assignment 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Topic(s) Intentional Torts (Battery/Trespass) Intl Torts cont (Conversion) Defenses to Battery (cont) (cont) Other Intentional Torts Intentional Torts in Modern Context Foundations of Negligence and Strict Liability (cont) (cont) Negligence (The Reasonable Person Standard) Negligence (Quantitative Measures?) Negligence (The Role of Custom) Negligence (Violations of Criminal Statutes) Negligence (Res Ipsa Loquitor) Defenses Based on Plaintiffs Conduct (cont) Tort Claims Against Multiple Defendants Causation (But-For Cause) (cont) Causation (Proximate Cause) (cont) Pages in Epstein 3-14 22-32 35-50 (not Canterbury) 50-68 68-77 79-93 TBD 101-02, 108-09, 112-27 127-44 154-68 169-94 194-220 221-44 261-85 298-320 327-30, 342-45, 350-53, 360-82 382-90 403-08, 429-40 449-60 470-96 497-519 519-36

-3-

Assignment 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33

Topic(s) (cont) Duties To Act (cont) (cont) Strict Liability (Ultrahazardous Activities) Products (cont) (cont) (cont) Nuisance Federal Preemption of Tort Claims

Pages in Epstein 536-44 563-69, 575-77 (n.3), 579-84 584-606 606-30 645, 656-75 723-48 748-63 772-97 797-812, 824-27 675-92; 710-22 842-52

-4-