Duty of Care

Pronunciation: DOO-tee of KAIR

Torts › Duty of Care

Definition

A legal obligation to exercise reasonable care to avoid causing harm to others. The duty of care is the first element of a negligence claim and requires that the defendant owed a legal duty to the plaintiff. Under the majority Cardozo view (Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad, 1928), duty runs only to foreseeable plaintiffs — those within the zone of foreseeable danger created by the defendant's negligent act. Under the minority Andrews view (Palsgraf dissent), a negligent actor owes a duty to everyone, and the practical limit on liability is proximate cause — assessed through factors including directness, foreseeability, and the natural and continuous sequence of events. The MBE tests the Cardozo foreseeable-plaintiff rule as the default.

Related terms

• Breach of Duty — The second element of negligence, requiring plaintiff to prove defendant's conduct fell below the applicable standard of care.…
• Reasonable Person Standard — An objective standard used to determine whether a defendant's conduct breached the duty of care. It asks what…
• Proximate Cause — A limitation on liability requiring that the harm suffered must be within the scope of risk created by…

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