Also known as: imminent probabilities of harm · imminent harm · imminent peril
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A heightened degree of foreseeability that triggers a duty to warn or protect in certain special relationships. It arises when the defendant knows that criminal assaults against persons are occurring or are about to occur on the premises based on notice of a specific danger just prior to the assault.
Irene Ingalls manages a hotel where a guest reports seeing an armed intruder heading toward another guest's room. She has direct notice of this specific danger moments before any attack begins. The imminent probability of harm standard is met, so she owes a duty to warn or protect the targeted guest under the special relationship rule.
Isla Ireland watches from across the street as a vehicle strikes her child in a crosswalk. She had no prior notice of any specific danger on the premises and the harm was not occurring or about to occur in a way that gave her advance warning. The imminent probability of harm standard is not satisfied, so no heightened duty arises from her observation alone.
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Imminent probability of harm is a stricter, heightened standard that requires notice of a specific danger just prior to an assault on the premises. Ordinary reasonable foreseeability covers broader known or predictable risks in special relationships but does not demand the same immediacy or specificity of notice.
Supporting sources
Notice must be of a specific danger occurring or about to occur on the premises, such as reports of an ongoing or imminent criminal assault. General awareness of crime in the area is insufficient.
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Common carrier and passenger, innkeeper and guest, and employer and employee relationships can give rise to the duty when the heightened foreseeability standard is met.
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…resulting from mental suffering, saying: "It is a matter of general knowledge that an attack of sudden fright or an exposure to imminent peril has produced in individuals a complete change in their nervous system, and rendered one who was physically strong and vigorous weak and timid." Since no one can seriously question that fear…