Also known as: classes of persons · protected class
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
2 senses
A group identified by an offeror as eligible to accept an offer and thereby form a contract. The offeror determines the scope of the group through the manifested terms of the offer.
A group identified by an offeror as eligible to accept an offer and thereby form a contract. The offeror determines the scope of the group through the manifested terms of the offer.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
A group whose members are the intended beneficiaries of a duty of care or statutory protection. Membership in the group determines whether a defendant owes a duty or may be held liable for harm to a plaintiff.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
A group whose members are the intended beneficiaries of a duty of care or statutory protection. Membership in the group determines whether a defendant owes a duty or may be held liable for harm to a plaintiff.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
Crestview Holdings posted an online solicitation inviting any qualified construction firm to submit a bid for a warehouse project by a stated deadline. Compass Logistics submitted a conforming bid within the time limit. The solicitation created a power of acceptance in Compass Logistics as a member of the identified group.
The offeror's manifested intention determines the persons who receive a power of acceptance. When the offer identifies a group or class, any member of that group may accept and form a contract.
Supporting sources
Carmen Choi stood in the designated audience area during a live pyrotechnic performance. The production company had omitted a required safety briefing that state rules mandated for all persons near the stage. Carmen Choi belonged to the class of persons the regulations were designed to protect.
Craig Caldwell purchased medication from a pharmacy that had filed false safety reports with regulators. State law required those reports to protect consumers from unsafe products. Craig Caldwell fell within the class of persons the statute was enacted to safeguard.
Corinne Cho lived in a neighborhood where a contractor performed excavation work. The contractor's negligence caused a gas leak that injured several residents. Corinne Cho was a member of the class of persons exposed to the hazard created by the negligent conduct.
Connor Clark relied on a company's false financial statements when purchasing shares. The company had circulated the statements expecting reliance by potential investors in multiple offerings. Connor Clark was one of the persons within the class the company intended to induce.
Curtis Cannon extended credit to a corporation that had filed a false solvency certificate with the state. The statute required the filing to protect persons extending credit to the entity. Curtis Cannon suffered loss through reliance on the misrepresentation and belonged to the protected class.
A court may adopt a statutory or regulatory standard as the measure of reasonable conduct only when the enactment protects a class that includes the plaintiff. The regulation must also guard the interest invaded and the kind of harm that occurred.
Supporting sources
A defendant owes a duty when the negligent conduct creates a foreseeable risk to the class and the plaintiff is a member of that class. Liability further requires that the negligence be a legal cause of the harm.
Supporting sources
Liability arises when the maker intends or has reason to expect that members of the class will rely on the misrepresentation in transactions of the type contemplated. Any member who justifiably relies may recover for resulting pecuniary loss.
Supporting sources
…The right to enforce this liability is not to be confined to the immediate buyer. The right, he says, extends to the persons or class of persons for whose use the thing is supplied. It is enough that the goods “would in all probability be used at once before a reasonable opportunity for discovering any defect which might…