Standard of Care - Negligence per Se

Negligence per Se

When a state criminal statute is violated in the course of performing an assertedly negligent act, under certain circumstances a court may adopt the statute as establishing a standard of care for tortious liability as well. This is negligence per se. It follows the reasoning that if a legislature reached findings of public interest in enacting the statute, these same considerations could arguably apply in cases of negligence. There is no negligence per se doctrine in federal law.

Four elements are deemed necessary for a statute to apply in a negligence case. First the person harmed must be a member of the class of persons which the law was intended to protect. Second, the danger or harm must be one that the law was intended to prevent. Thirdly, there must be some causal relationship established between the breach of the statute and the harm caused. Fourthly, the criminal statute must be concrete, specific and measurable enough to clearly establish a standard of breach. Courts are reluctant to create new torts out of criminal statutes. (See Restatement (Second) of Torts, sections 297, 288.)

However, there are five valid excuses that are available for a defendant to defeat a standard of negligence per se. (Restatement (Second) of Torts section 288.1(2).) First, the defendant may not know of the breach due to incompetence. Secondly, he might either lack knowledge or reason to know of the breach or duty. Furthermore, for some explainable reason, he may be unable to comply, despite diligence. The breach may be due to a sudden emergency not of one’s own making. And lastly, in special situations it may be safer to not comply than to comply. In cases where these defenses are applied, negligence per se doctrine creates no more than a rebuttable presumption of negligence that shifts the burden of proof from the plaintiff to the defendant.