Question

Deb lives in a jurisdiction where all residential swimming pools are required by law to be enclosed by a fence that is at least six feet tall in order to prevent accidental drowning. Deb built a pool in her backyard a couple of months ago, but she hasn't had the extra money with which to build the fence. Unfortunately, one of the neighborhood children goes swimming in the pool and drowns. The parents of the child sue Deb. Discuss how the parents would likely go about proving their case and the elements that would be required.

Answer 1

The parents can sue Deb under negligence tort law in the Civil court. Negligence tort is a legal theory in which a person especially defendant failed to act reasonably and breached their duty of care owed to others around, which leads to damage or harm to others.(plaintiffs).

In order to prove thier case, The parents are required to prove or show four elements in the court. The first element is Duty of care. Duty of care means defendant has legal duty owed to plaintiff. In the case, Parents can prove this by showing that Deb as resident living in the area had duty of care to follow the law " where all residential swimming pools are required by law to be enclosed by a fence that is at least six feet tall in order to prevent accidental drowning." When Deb built the pool in her resident then she should also built the fence around the pool. The second element is Breah of duty of care. In this element, The parent must show that Deb breached her duty. This can be done by showing in court that Deb built the pool but did not build the fence leading to breach. The fourth element is causation means actions of Deb were the acutal cause to harm or loss occurred to the parents. Damages is the last element to prove thier case. This means that Plaintiff must have suffer loss or harm as result out of action of defendant. The case shows that "one of the neighborhood children goes swimming in the pool and drowns " because Deb did not build the fence around her pool.