Standard of Care: Reasonable Person

Standard is objective; mental impairments irrelevant; physical disabilities incorporated.

Representative cases

• Seals v. Morris 410 So. 2d 715 · Supreme Court of Louisiana
• Boudreaux v. Panger 490 So. 2d 1083 · Supreme Court of Louisiana
• Bursztajn v. USA 367 F.3d 485 · Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

Related Negligence rules

• Negligence: DutyDuty requires defendant to exercise reasonable care under the circumstances to avoid foreseeable risks of harm.
• Custom EvidenceCustom is relevant but not conclusive of reasonable care.
• Professionals StandardProfessionals must meet the skill and knowledge of the average practitioner in the community.
• Informed ConsentDoctors must disclose risks a reasonable patient would consider material.
• Negligence Per SeViolation of a safety statute establishes duty and breach if plaintiff is in protected class and risk matches…
• Duty to RescueGenerally no duty to rescue absent special relationship or assumption of duty.
• Special RelationshipsRelationships like carrier-passenger or innkeeper-guest create affirmative duties of protection.
• Negligent Infliction of Emotional DistressNIED requires physical danger, zone-of-danger exposure, or bystander presence with close relationship.

Part of Torts on Core Legal Rules — foundational MBE-tested principles with primary-source citations.