Legal Duties

Legally actionable negligence requires, among other things, the existence of a legal duty between a plaintiff and defendant and a defendant’s breach of that duty.

The question of whether a duty exists is solely a legal question. A legal duty usually flow from one of three sources: (1) created by statute; (2) arises because the law imposes a duty based on the relationship between the parties (eg, physician-patient, attorney-client, co-partners, etc.) or (3) it may arise because a party has assumed a duty by contract or agreement. Cupp v. National R.R. Passenger Corp., 138 S.W.3d 766, 771 (Mo. Ct. App. 2004).

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