A Block Law 12 - We've discussed the test for negligence and today we'll look at defences to negligence and we'll also deal with liability...Joint Liability (each D is 100% liable for the full amount, but P can only get up to 100%), Several Liability (P can collect 100%, but each D is only liable for their portion) and Joint and Several Liability (Makes sure P gets something. P may collect 100% from A, who is only 20% responsible, and A has to sue B 80%).
For your project, there are a few things you should know about helping people in distress or need:
GOOD SAMARITAN ACT [RSBC 1996] CHAPTER 172
Section 1: No liability for emergency aid unless gross negligence
Section 2:Exceptions
Section 3:Health Care (Consent) and Care Facility (Admission) Act
No liability for emergency aid unless gross negligence:
1 A person who renders emergency medical services or aid to an ill, injured or unconscious person, at the immediate scene of an accident or emergency that has caused the illness, injury or unconsciousness, is not liable for damages for injury to or death of that person caused by the person's act or omission in rendering the medical services or aid unless that person is grossly negligent.
Exceptions
2 Section 1 does not apply if the person rendering the medical services or aid
(a) is employed expressly for that purpose, or
(b) does so with a view to gain.
Health Care (Consent) and Care Facility (Admission) Act
3 The Health Care (Consent) and Care Facility (Admission) Act does not affect anything in this Act.
COMMON LAW: The Duty To Assist
As a general principle, common law does not require a bystander to help someone in peril - the priest and the Levite would not be liable for failing to assist the stranger. Common law jurisdictions generally rely on inducements - the carrot and stick approach - to persuade citizens to aid others by minimizing risk to themselves. However, several exceptions exist where failure to act could result in both civil and criminal liability. A "special relationship" may give rise to a duty to assist. Such a relationship exists when, for example, one party derives an economic advantage from the other. An employer may be obligated to assist an employee injured at work. In an accident, common carriers must assist passengers, and innkeepers must aid their quests. Although the spectrum of special relationships has not yet been determined by the courts, the scope will likely expand as it has in the United States.
Another exception occurs when a person creates a situation placing another in danger. A negligent motorist who causes an accident involving injuries is liable if he or she does not provide assistance. In some circumstances, a person is assumed to have a duty to assist because of the nature of his or her job. Policemen and Firemen, not good samaritans since it is their job to assist in an emergency. In general, a good samaritan is not paid for rescuing people in danger.
Risks Of A Good Samaritan
In Legal theory, the bystander is safe as long as he or she does absolutely nothing. But as soon as steps are taken to help, immunity for failing to act is removed. If a bystander decides to act as a good samaritan and chooses to intervene, he or she will be liable to the victim if rescue actions were unreasonable, and indeed aggravated the plight of the sufferer.
So long as nothing is done to worsen the situation, a good samaritan can abandon the rescue effort and leave the scene. A point is reached, however, when someone who intervenes is considered to have assumed a legal duty to act, but the rule and limits have not been tested.
The good samaritan probably runs greater risk of being held liable for personal injury or damage to property to a third party than to the victim. But the old common law defense of necessity protects a rescuer from liability for trespass if the individual enters another's property or uses others' goods necessary to save lives or protect property. A good samaritan can break into a garage and seize an axe to save a stranger trapped in a burning car.
Rights Of A Good Samaritan
What happens when a good samaritan suffers injuries or damage to his or her property as a result of responding to a call for help? Courts formerly considered that risk of loss or injury was voluntarily assumed. Today, the rights of a good samaritan to claim compensation depend mainly on whether the emergency was caused by another's negligence or fault. If danger is caused by the victim, the good samaritan can claim compensation from the victim. If a third party causes the situation, both rescuer and victim can recover damages from that person.
The Ogopogo Case
The case of Horsley v MacLaren, 1970, represents a controversial example of the right to compensation. A guest (Matthews) on a power boat (the Ogopogo) owned by the defendant (MacLaren) fell overboard into Lake Ontario. MacLaren tried to rescue Matthews but was unsuccessful. Meanwhile, the plaintiff Horsley (another guest) attempted to save Matthews but both men drowned. The court held that MacLaren had a duty to rescue Matthews because of a special relationship - a power boat operator owed a duty of protective care to the passengers - and if negligent, MacLaren would be liable to Matthews (or his dependents).
Horsley, on the other hand, was a good samaritan with no duty to rescue Matthews. His only recourse was against MacLaren and his right to compensation depended on whether MacLaren had been negligent to Matthews, which the Supreme Court found not to be the case. Since MacLaren was not liable to Matthews, he could not be liable to Horsley.
FYI:
Spraggs & Co. Should I Claim My Work Injury with WorkSafeBC or in a Personal Injury Lawsuit?
Worksafe BC The basics of making a claim
Worksafe BC What you need to know about benefits and lawsuits for injury, death, or disease in the workplace
Worksafe BC Critical Incident Response
Worksafe BC Workers compensation and Lawsuit basics
B Block Introduction to Law 10 - So today we'll continue our look at profiling and both the benefits and pitfalls of it. We will clarify Friday's work and discuss ASPD along with Psychopathy and Sociopathy and it's really important to note that in movies and TV shows (yes, I'm talking about you Criminal Minds), psychopaths and sociopaths are usually the villains who kill or torture innocent people. In real life however, while some people with antisocial personality disorder can be violent, most are not. Some experts see sociopaths as “hot-headed”, acting without thinking how others will be affected while psychopaths are more “cold-hearted” and calculating, plotting their moves, using aggression in a planned-out way to get what they want. So, many (NOT all) prolific and notorious serial killers are psychopaths.
Dr. Robert Hare of the University of British Columbia created a checklist called the PCL-R (Psychopathy Checklist Revised) which you were introduced to on Friday and we'll examine along with the "Unholy Trinity" of serial killer characteristics (AKA The Macdonald triad or the triad of sociopathy or the homicidal triad). Don't forget that in Canada the R.C.M.P. call the technique criminal investigative analysis. After, we'll start watching a Fifth Estate episode called "The Unrepentant", from the CBC Fifth Estate website...
They are marked by their ability to kill without passion and without remorse. Some are called psychopaths - a term that evokes nightmare images of murderers and monsters. But the label can also apply to men and women who are successful, intelligent, charismatic, charming and amusing - and so all the more dangerous. This week on the fifth estate, Linden MacIntyre looks at what makes a psychopath through the fifth estate's close encounters with of four of Canada's most frightening criminals.
The fifth estate begins with "Lightning" Lee, a former kick-boxer who brutally victimized women and children who was described as a "textbook psychopath." The other criminals MacIntyre takes on didn't outwardly seem to be the type - the respected commander of an air force base, Russell Williams; and Karla Homolka, who convinced police and a psychiatrist she was a victim, even though she helped her husband assault and kill young girls, including her own younger sister. Finally, MacIntyre revisits the harrowing story of two teenaged friends who conspired to murder one of their families and were caught in a controversial RCMP sting. They are all disordered personalities, whose lack of empathy and shame inspires both fear and fascination.
C Block Criminology 12 -
Today we
continue with our unit on media literacy. We will talk about the history
of media and communication formats (I'll give you a handout on the topic and
we'll go over it today). So...I want you to track your consumption of media for one day. Today we'll estimate how much time of the day you think you consume and interact with media. We'll look at this Kaiser Family Foundation study from 2010 and it will give us a good idea about amounts. The Info-graphic to the left from MBAOnline posted at Socialmouth is a good visual of generational differences for media consumption throughout the day. So for you...at the end of each hour that you are awake for one day I'd like you to write down what media format you interacted with for that previous hour and guesstimate how much time you interacted with it. I know that you are a generation of multi-taskers (and that you are interacting with this blog right now) so try to be as honest as you can about what you consume/interact with.
Remember the types of Mass Media include: Print media encompasses mass communication through printed material. It includes newspapers, magazines, booklets and brochures, house magazines, periodicals or newsletters, direct mailers, handbills or flyers, billboards, press releases, and books. Electronic media is the kind of media which requires the user to utilize an electric connection to access it. It is also known as 'Broadcast Media'. It includes television, radio, and new-age media like Internet, computers, telephones, etc. With the advent of Internet, we are now enjoying the benefits of high technology mass media, which is not only faster than the old school mass media, but also has a widespread range. Mobile phones, computers, and Internet are often referred to as the new-age media. Internet has opened up several new opportunities for mass communication which include e-mail, websites, podcasts, e-forums, e-books, blogging, Internet TV, and many others which are booming today. Internet has also started social networking sites which have redefined mass communication all together. Sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have made communication to the masses all the more entertaining, interesting, and easier.
I'm going to hold off on the MMIWG and Highway of Tears until Friday this week. Because we didn't get to it yesterday today I'd like to watch the Batman: The Animated Series Two Face (part 1) and Two Face (Part II). These episodes provide an alternate origin story to Harvey Dent / Two Face than the movie The Dark Knight.
The animated series was a sort of watershed for crime serial animation in that it was styled after a "film noir" format (a gritty and dark Hollywood genre of crime dramas from the 1940's and 1950's). This episode is almost 25 years old (yep from 1992) and is a brilliant example of a cartoon series taking its audience seriously. It provided gripping, intelligent, and compelling episodes that did not shy away from important issues and was adept at examining crime from a criminology perspective (It even won an Emmy award in 1993 for "Outstanding Animated Program - for the episode "Robin's Reckoning"). It is sophisticated, mature, artistic, and faithful to the Batman cannon.
So when we finish the episode we'll try to make sense of what messages the episode tries to pass on to its audience (remember it's children), what the episode says of crime and what mass media theory we can use to explain how the creators (Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski) and writers (Alan Burnett and Randy Rogel) presented their ideas.
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