Project Three Paper Two - Tort Law Elisabeth Meyers Southern New Hampshire University BUS-206 Business Law I Holly Dormeyer October 10, 2023
Project Three Paper Two - Tort Law Tort Law deals with civil wrongs that cause harm or injury to individuals or their property, giving rise to a legal obligation to compensate the injured party. A tort is defined as a "civil wrong that gives the injured party a right to bring a lawsuit against the wrongdoer to recover compensation for injuries" (Kubasek et al, 2019). Tort Law is relevant to business practices because it governs how individuals and entities interact and the consequences of their actions. Businesses can be both plaintiffs and defendants in tort cases, which can significantly impact their operations, finances, and reputation. Based on the scenario above, negligence, nuisance, and intentional infliction of emotional distress are the tort laws that are relevant. Negligence is a tort that occurs when a party fails to exercise reasonable care, resulting in harm to another. According to the textbook Dynamic Business Law I written by Nancy Kubasek, negligent torts are civil wrongs that occur when "the defendant acts in a careless way that subjects other people to an unreasonable risk of harm." In this case, negligence may be applicable if The Friendly Dawg failed to secure the snake adequately, allowing it to escape and harm the space of Sunshine Yoga. A private nuisance is an unreasonable interference with the use and enjoyment of another individual's property (Kubasek et al, 2019). The noise from The Friendly Dawg's love animals may constitute a nuisance, potentially affecting Sunshine Yoga's business operations. If Jasmine's claim of depression and anxiety can be linked directly to the actions of The Friendly Dawg or Lou, she may have a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress. Legal Claims: Sunshine Yoga may have valid negligence and nuisance claims against The Friendly Dog. If it can be proven that the escape of the snake resulted from The Friendly Dawg's failure
to properly secure the reptile. Sunshine Yoga would have to establish a duty of care by The Friendly Dawg to Sunshine Yoga, breach of that duty, causation, and damages. To succeed in a negligence claim, it must demonstrate that the noise generated by The Friendly Dawg's animals unreasonably interfered with their ability to operate the yoga studio. Sunshine Yoga would also be able to file legal claims against the landlord, Lou. The first claim would be negligence. If Lou knew about the disruptive noise from The Friendly Dawg's animals and did nothing to address it, Sunshine Yoga might have a nuisance claim against him as well. Landlords have an obligation to ensure that their tenants' actions do not create a nuisance for neighboring tenants. If it can be proven that Lou failed to address the noise issue, she might have a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress. Sunshine Yoga may have legal claims against both The Friendly Dawg and their landlord, Lou based on relevant tort laws.