This course is a survey of basic tort law and its function. It covers allocating the costs of harms unintentionally caused by negligence, as well as certain unintentional harms that are governed by strict liability. It covers a variety of dignitary wrongs. It covers claims of both intentional and unintentionally caused emotional distress. Finally, it covers a basic overview of products liability law.

At the end of this course, you should be able to: 

1. demonstrate a working knowledge and understanding of the essential substantive law of Torts in the areas outlined above, 
2. apply your substantive knowledge to think both practically and ethically in context about issues of both doctrine and policy in core areas of Tort law covered, 
3. engage in relevant fact-gathering in the context of both critical and normative analysis of Tort law issues, and 
4. use basic skills relevant for drafting and advocacy in the Tort law context. 
   You will, more generally, develop active listening skills, critical thinking skills, and skills for legal analysis more generally, as you should in all your courses, but these outcomes are most specific to this course, and most tailored to how your learning will be assessed.

The only required text for this class is Goldberg, Sebok & Zipursky, Tort Law: Responsibilities and Redress (4th ed. 2016).

In addition to the readings and problems assigned for class, I expect you to do practice problems and exam preparation on your own time. If you get confused and would like to review material outside our book, I recommend any of the books below, all of which are available in the Academic Success office.  Borrowing a book from Academic Su/ccess is a wonderful opportunity for you both to save some money and to get to know the Academic Success folks. They walk on water. They can help you improve your law school performance, keep you sane in times of extreme stress, and help you pass the bar exam. Get to know them now.

• Torts (in The Oxford Introductions to U.S. Law Series), by John C.P Goldberg and Benjamin C. Zipursky, published by Oxford.  This is in a narrative style, very readable, and it is by your casebook authors.  It is wholly consistent with your casebook, substantively what you will be getting in class, just presented in a different style.
• Principles of Tort Law (in the Concise Hornbook series), by Marshall Shapo, published by Thomson West.  This is very straightforward, topic by topic, but on some points you will find there are inconsistences with your casebook – remember, Tort law is state law, so this is just a reality of writing casebooks and hornbooks – choices have to be made.  If you get confused about the differences, just come and ask me.  That said, this book has helpful examples, it is easily understandable, and it generally is consistent with what the casebook covers and the approach it takes. 
• Understanding Torts, by Diamond/Levine/Bernstein, published by Lexis/Nexis.  This is similar to the Concise Hornbook by Shapo, just a different style of writing and different organization, so they each might appeal to different minds and different learning styles.  The same caveats apply as above.
• Torts Q&A, by Bernstein/Leonard, published by Lexis/Nexis. This is a book of questions that includes multiple choice, short answer, essay questions. I don't think all of them are great questions, and not all of them work for our coverage, but it will give you ideas for starting points on questions to think about, even if the coverage is not an exact match.

You also should prepare your own outline.  This is a key part of the learning process because it enables you to take the large amounts of material we study and put it into your own coherent statement of the law.  In so doing, you learn the law in a more in-depth manner.  The outline also then can serve as one of your primary study tools for the exam, and as a reference guide on the exam. Though I can’t stop you from using “canned” commercial outlines, I strongly discourage it. Only by going through the difficult process of working through the material, banging your head against a few walls, and figuring out yourself how everything fits together will you learn the material sufficiently in-depth to succeed in this course, on the bar exam, and in law practice.

I am fair game any time Mondays or Wednesdays that I am not in class. Otherwise feel free to contact me by email, text, or message.

 If you use a computer, it should be for note-taking purposes or other purposes related to the class.  Using a computer to surf the Internet, check e-mails, play games, or for other purposes unrelated to the class is distracting to other students.  I do not patrol computer use, but if I notice or learn of improper use, expect to lose in-class computer privileges.

Every student’s name goes on a card. At the beginning of each class, I will draw several cards randomly from the deck. These persons will be “on” for the day. At the end of class, I will replace those cards in the deck, so if you are drawn in one class, you may also be drawn in the next. Toward the end of the semester, I will occasionally (unannounced) omit the cards of students who have been called on several times, to ensure everyone will have an opportunity to participate.

Although I expect attendance, I do not always take it. However, if I draw your card and you are absent at the time I draw or you are obviously unprepared, your final grade in the class will automatically drop a full step (e.g., from a B to a C) from what it otherwise would have been. There are only three exceptions to this rule. The first is if you have notified me (by email or text or note on the lectern) before class that you will be absent or are unprepared. However, on every fifth such notice that I receive from you during the semester, your grade will drop one-third step (e.g., from a B to a B-). The second exception is if you (not your mother, grandfather, dog) are physically or mentally incapacitated and therefore unable to give notice. The third is if you have a unique need for accommodation, such as a disability, and you have worked out a prior arrangement with me.  
 
The foregoing notwithstanding, I prefer to spend the bulk of class time in a relatively informal discussion of the problems presented by the reading material.  I therefore encourage you to volunteer whenever you have something to contribute.  Volunteering will not be painful.

You are responsible for everything discussed or distributed in class.  If you miss a class, it is your responsibility to get notes, handouts, assignments, etc. from a trusted fellow student.  Please do not ask me for these materials.

Your final grade will be based 100% on an end-of-semester four-hour final exam. You may bring into the exam the Goldberg casebook, anything I have distributed in class, and anything else prepared by you (notes, outlines, etc.).  Hornbooks, commercial outlines or briefs, or notes/outlines prepared by someone else are not allowed.  I will discuss the exam in greater detail later in the semester.  I will discuss it only in class – please do not ask me any questions about it outside of class.

Though your grade will be determined only by the final exam, you will receive several forms of ungraded assessment throughout the semester.

Any student with a disability that substantially limits learning in a higher education setting may contact the Office of Accessibility for information regarding eligibility for reasonable accommodations. The office telephone number is (330) 972-7928 (Voice) or (330) 972-5764 (TDD).

The University of Akron’s Commitment to an Environment Free from Discrimination, Including Sexual Assault and Violence.  The University of Akron is committed to providing an environment free of all forms of discrimination, including sexual violence and sexual harassment. This includes instances of attempted and/or completed sexual assault, domestic and dating violence, gender-based stalking, and sexual harassment.  Additional information, resources, support and the University of Akron protocols for responding to sexual violence are available at uakron.edu/Title-IX.

The assignments below are, unless otherwise specified, for the Goldberg casebook.  Expect that the assignment dates may change.  When this happens, we will always follow the assignments in the syllabus in sequential order, even though that will mean that the dates will be off.  

August
26    Beyond Torts: Learning to learn the law. Louis N. Schulze, Jr., Using Science to Build Better [Law School] Learners, pp. 9-30.
28    Elements as the building block of torts: IIED, defamation, and privacy torts as examples. Secunda et al., Understanding Employment Law (3d ed. 2019) pp. 55-58, 101-05.

September
2    Labor Day – no class
4    3-11, 47-59: Introduction to negligence.
9    59-73 (through note 7): Negligence: general duty.
11    74- 89, notes on 95-101: Negligence: affirmative duties + premises liability.
16    143-53, 155-56, 158-165: Negligence: duty, breach, & meanings of “Negligence”.
18    168-171, 171-178 (notes 1-8, 11, 14 & 15), 178-181, 185-189, 196-198 (notes 1, 2, 7, 8, 10): Negligence: tailoring the reasonable person standard.
23    201-225: Negligence: balancing/cost-benefit analysis + res ipsa.
25    229-243: Intro to causation.
30    243-63: Negligence: actual cause.

October
2    263-88: Negligence: actual cause / multiple causation.
7    309-11, 316 (from note 2b) -325, 327-30 (notes 2-3, 5-6): Proximate cause.
9    331-339, 342-43 (notes 9-11), 355-360: More proximate cause.
14    384-399: Negligence per se, wrongful death, & loss of consortium (reading assignment is only on NPS; other material covered in lecture).
16    437 (note 2) -441; 443-445; 447-451 (notes 5-9): Affirmative defenses.
21    458-66, 468 n. 5, 472-73 n. 9, 474-80, 481 nn. 3-4: More on affirmative defenses.
23    488-93 (through note 7), 555-65 (through n.10): Affirmative defenses & vicarious liability.
28    520 (n. 7) - 535 (n. 12), 516: Damages; Review: Ohio bar exam question Feb. 2009 (boiling water).
30    602-04, 609-18, 622 (n. 8), 634-639, 645-652 (through n. 3): Intentional torts: battery & assault.

November
4    654-56, 659-80: Defenses to battery & assault; false imprisonment.
6     699-705, 715-27 (notes 1-15), 753-761: emotional distress. Cut Consolidated Rail, combine this class with next class, and add 2 review problems for intentional torts.
11    768-69 through 774 n. 2, 775-77 (nn. 4-5), 788-795: more emotional distress. This, too, is short – good day to discuss review problems. Need to add material on conversion somewhere here.
13    831-35, 836 n. 2, 837-38 nn. 5-6, 847-50 (through n.1), 860-66, 853-54 nn. 2-5,
875-83: trespass, necessity/consent; nuisance; abnormally dangerous activities.
18    893-900, 911 (from note 8) -928: Intro to products liability. Combine this class w design defects, and add back in apportionment of liability from 2018 syllabus.
20    935-37 nn. 7, 9 & 10, 938-48, 962-68: Products liability design defects.
25    984-89, 991-93 nn. 4-5 & 7, 994-1008: Products Liability: failure to warn.
27    Review: Ohio bar exam question Feb. 2011 (frisking & stun gun)

Exam 12/11/19 9:00-1:00