ProfessorMelissa A. Hale
CaseCast™ – "What you need to know"
Brief Fact Summary. A taxi driver working for the Defendant, Peerless Transportation Co. (Defendant), jumped from his taxi while it was running to escape an armed highwayman who was being pursued by his victim. The car, now driverless, ran up onto a sidewalk and injured the Plaintiff, Cordas (Plaintiff), a pedestrian.
Synopsis of Rule of Law. Reasonable and prudent action is based on the set of circumstances under which the actions took place.
Negligence, in the abstract, apart from things related, is surely not a tort, if indeed it is understandable at all.
View Full Point of LawIssue. Whether abandoning a running car is reasonable behavior.
Held. The driver was not negligent in this case, as his actions were in response to an emergency situation.
Discussion. Negligence is defined as the failure to exercise that care and caution which a reasonable and prudent person ordinarily would exercise under like conditions or circumstances. In an emergency situation, the law does not hold a person to the same standards as if he had opportunity for deliberate action. The circumstances dictate what is or is not prudent action.