First Principles of Business Law

The tort of Negligence

5. Breach of a duty of care

5.1.8. The relevance of a defendant's mental illness

 

 

 

Read the following facts and then consider the arguments.

A suffers from a mental illness and as a result develops an irrational fear of fire. He often believes that a fire has started when in fact there are no grounds for that belief. One day, while in a supermarket, A wrongly begins to think that a fire has started. He rushes for the door, violently pushing other shoppers out of the way in his effort to escape. One of the persons pushed is B, who falls and breaks her leg. She sues A.

Which of the following arguments is more likely to succeed?

Plaintiff's argument

 Defendant's argument

 

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