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Finding The Way Forward For You

Finding The Way Forward For You

Personal Injury Newsletters

Federal Tort Claims Act – Federal Government Employees

The Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) applies to claims for personal injury caused by the negligence of a federal government employee who is acting within the scope of his or her employment, under circumstances in which a private person would be liable under state law. Therefore, the FTCA applies only to personal injury actions that arise from the negligence of a federal government employee.

Professional Rescuers

A rescuer who comes to the aid of a victim of a peril may be either an amateur or a professional, such as a firefighter or a police officer. With respect to amateur rescuers, the “rescue doctrine” may apply to allow the rescuer to recover against the creator of the victim’s peril for injuries that he sustains during the rescue. However, professional rescuers are generally unable to rely on the rescue doctrine to recover for their injuries. Instead, the “fireman’s rule” ordinarily prevents professionals from recovering without regard to the negligence of the creator of the peril.

The Duty of Children

Generally, the law requires a person to exercise the degree of care that a reasonably prudent person would exercise under the same circumstances. This is called “the duty of reasonable care.” A person who breaches his duty of reasonable care is guilty of negligence.

The Federal Employers’ Liability Act

The Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA) is an act that deals with a railroad carrier’s liability to its employees for industrial accidents. If the carrier is engaged in interstate or foreign commerce, the carrier will be liable for its employees’ injuries or death. However, the carrier is only liable for injuries or death that result from the negligence of the carrier’s officers, agents, or employees or from a defect in the carrier’s cars, engines, tracks, or machinery.

Unusual Defenses to Defamation

Defamation lawsuits are not easy to win because the plaintiff must both prove the difficult elements of his or her case and avoid the many defenses to defamation. This article reviews two unusual “defenses” to defamation, the insubstantial but practical defense of I-dare-you-to-sue, and the real but rare defense of consent.