Negligence requires a showing of (1) the existence of a duty to protect the plaintiff from injury, (2) breach of the duty, (3) causation and (4) an injury to plaintiff. Thiele v. Rieter, 838 S.W.2d 441, 442 (Mo. Ct. App. 1992). Foreseeability is key in determining whether a duty exists. Wieland v. Owner-Operator Servs., Inc., 540 S.W.3d 845, 848 (Mo. 2018)….
Legal Articles
Trust Law versus Corporate Law, Controlling Duties
When a trust owns corporate shares, do corporate fiduciary obligations or trustee obligations prevail? The answer is that generally a trustee’s obligations take priority. Upon incorporation of trust assets, the corporation becomes the alter ego of the trustees and the trustee’s acts are determined in the light of the trust. Weldon Revocable Trust v. Weldon, 231 S.W.3d 158, 171…
Ghost Tortfeasor/Non-Party Liability, Negligence
A negligence case generally requires that a plaintiff prove a (1) legal duty on the part of the defendant to conform to a certain standard of conduct, (2) a breach of the duty, (3) proximate cause between the conduct and the resulting injury and (4) damages. Hoover’s Dairy, Inc. v. Mid-America Dairymen, 700 S.W.2d 426, 431 (Mo. 1985). A defendant…
Public Duty Doctrine, Negligence
To prevail on a negligence claim, a plaintiff needs to plead that a defendant owed the plaintiff a (1) duty, the (2) defendant breached the duty, and the (3) defendant caused the plaintiff harm/damages. The public duty doctrine usually protects a public officer from negligence claims. Benson v. Kansas City, Bd. of Police Com’rs, 366…