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Tort law, an important component of civil law within the US common law system, generally encompasses situations in which an individual's conduct causes harm to another. Tort is literally translated from French as a "wrong." Conduct gives rise to claims in court when a specific statutory or common law tort has been committed. When a tort is committed, one may seek compensation for the tort in court in the form of damages (monetary compensation).

Tort law can be divided according to three broad categories of tort: intentional torts, negligence, and strict liability torts.

Intentional torts generally require that one "intended" to cause the consequences of the act. That is, that one meant to perform the act that caused harm to another.

Negligence generally requires that one be at fault for committing the act. Negligence theory underlies many personal injury actions, such as car accidents.

Strict liability torts require neither intent nor fault; simply causing harm to an individual while performing one from an enumerated list of strict liability torts gives rise to damages (even if the individual did not intend the act and was not at fault for it).

Negligence is a legal doctrine that underlies many types of lawsuits when someone or an entity is at fault for harm caused to another. In order to prove negligence, the injured party (plaintiff) must prove the following five elements:

· existence of a duty of care owed by the defendant to the plaintiff

· unreasonable behavior by the defendant that breaches the duty of care

· causation in fact

· proximate causation

· an actual injury

There are various methods of proving these five elements during or before a trial. The absence of any one of these elements will undermine the potential for a successful negligence claim. Negligence is the basis for not only personal injury actions but also most malpractice lawsuits and many lawsuits involving damage to person or property caused by products on the market, when strict liability is not available for those suits.

Strict liability torts are torts that impose liability upon an individual or an entity simply for the individual's or entity's causing harm or engaging in an activity from an enumerated list. The law imposes this strict liability in order to protect certain vulnerable populations from harm caused by those who engage in certain high-risk activities. These activities include the following:

· dealing in very hazardous material

· possessing a vicious or wild animal

· taking part in the production or sale of an unreasonably dangerous product

If any person causes injury to another pursuant to participation in one of these activities, then, absent an adequate and applicable defense, that person is liable to the injured regardless of fault or intent. Strict liability thus makes it easier for a plaintiff to recover from harm done.

Products liability is a type of strict liability, but the term is sometimes used to denote something more than mere strict liability for dangerous products. In some cases, products liability is used to denote all causes of action against producers or distributors of products that harm consumers. These causes of action include strict liability and negligence claims based on design defects, manufacturing defects, and inadequate warnings. The causes also include breaches of express and implied warranty claims. This broader conception of products liability is often employed in lieu of the narrower sense encompassing just strict products liability.

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