Cars and Broken Limbs

The Reasonable Person Standard. The basic idea is that the actor being discussed should be compared to the ordinary reasonable person for acts he commits. Here's a hypothetical that I'll make up on the fly: Grandma ran a stop sign (claiming she didn't see it) and t-boned George (who was 12 year old kid that just stole a car). After whipping George with a belt and breaking his left ankle, George's father (representing his son) brought suit for negligence against Grandma. Grandma was injured in the wreck and lost all feeling in her left arm. The doctor, being fresh out of med school from the wonderful state of Mississippi, operated on the wrong arm and caused her to become paralyzed in her right leg. Grandma now relies on a walker and/or wheelchair depending on how many doobies she smoked that morning. On a good morning, she believes she can fly like a bird and needs no assistance at all. Regardless, she is suing the doctor for negligence. In addition, George's mother (who is a prostitute) is suing his rich father for battery on behalf of George.

Here's how the reasonable person standard would be applied. First, Grandma is old. Should we have sympathy for her? Not in Torts. Grandma claims that she doesn't need to stop at the intersection, because she's never hit anyone while running the stop sign in the past. Although her knowledge and quality of judgment may be less than an ordinary person, the jury is going to be instructed (if it reaches the jury) to hold Grandma to a reasonable person standard. In other words, would an ordinary prudent individual stop at the intersection that Grandma cruised right through? The standard does not shift just because she claims she's not as smart as the ordinary reasonable person.

Did the fact that George was only 12 have any significance? Who cares? That's not why I constructed this hypothetical. However, when Grandma sues doctor, the reasonable person standard changes a bit. The standard is now changed to "what the ordinary medical professional would do." This alteration exists for good reason. Most ordinary people can't stitch up pants, much less the arm of an elderly lady. Details, details, details...This is taking up too much of my time.

I got to get back to studying.