LESSON 5
Section I. RES IPSA LOQUITUR AND RESPONDEAT SUPERIOR
5-1.
NO-FAULT LIABILITY AND THE DOCTRINE OF RES IPSA LOQUITUR
a. Res Ipsa Loquitur Doctrine. Res ipsa loquitur literally means not having to
prove all four elements of liability for actionable negligence. As stated earlier, tort
liability is almost always based on fault. But there are some cases in which liability is
assessed regardless of fault and without having to prove the four elements of actionable
negligence. Such cases are decided based on the legal doctrine of res ipsa loquitur,
Latin for "the thing speaks for itself." This legal doctrine (the principle established
through past court decisions or common law) allows a major exception to the
requirement of proving all four elements of actionable negligence.
Res Ipsa loquitur: the legal doctrine in which all four elements of
actionable negligence need not be proven, literal meaning: "the thing
speaks for itself."
b. Origins of Res Ipsa Loquitur. This doctrine was established in England
during the 19th century in response to a case in which a barrel flying out of an upper
story window smashed into a pedestrian. When the pedestrian tried to sue the owner of
the building, the owner hid behind the fact that the plaintiff could not prove all four
elements of liability for actionable negligence. Naturally, the plaintiff could not find out
exactly what had gone wrong in the upper story room, that is, what the breach of duty
was. Thus, it looked like the case would be lost. The court ruled, however, that the
owner could not take advantage of the prevailing doctrine to escape liability when
someone had clearly done something wrong. Consequently, the court developed the
res ipsa loquitur doctrine.
c. Essential Conditions for Res Ipsa Loquitur. Five conditions must be met
in order to invoke this doctrine (figure 5-1.) Even after the five conditions for res ipsa
loquitur are met, finding for the plaintiff is not automatic. There is merely an inference
that the defendant was negligent. (The plaintiff proves injury and causation; duty and
breach thereof are inferred.) The defendant may try to document why injury was not the
result of negligence.
d. Applicable Cases. Courts have often applied res Ipsa loquitur to two types
of medical malpractice cases: sponges and other foreign objects unintentionally left in
the body and injuries to parts of the body distant from the site of treatment, such as
injury to an arm during eye surgery.
MD0066
5-2