Also known as: simple negligence
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Conduct falling below the standard of care that a reasonably prudent person would exercise under the circumstances. It gives rise to tort liability when it proximately causes harm to a foreseeable plaintiff, but it does not encompass intentional, wanton, or willful disregard of others' rights.
Oliver Okeke drove his unemancipated minor child to school and failed to notice a stop sign due to ordinary inattention. The child suffered injuries in the resulting collision and sued the parent for damages. The court applied parental immunity and dismissed the claim because the conduct arose from ordinary negligence in the exercise of parental supervision.
Oswald Orozco operated a farm adjacent to Omega Energy's property and applied a restricted pesticide in violation of a state statute requiring buffer zones. The chemical drifted onto Omega Energy's land and damaged its equipment. Omega Energy sued for the resulting losses, establishing a negligence per se claim based on the statutory breach that substituted for the ordinary negligence duty of care.
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Onyx O'Reilly published an article about a public official that contained factual errors traceable to ordinary negligence in failing to verify sources. The official sued for defamation and sought punitive damages. The court denied punitive damages because ordinary negligence in publication does not satisfy the actual malice standard needed for such recovery.
Orson Ochoa, a seaman employed by Osprey Aviation, died when a supervisor's ordinary failure to secure deck equipment caused it to fall during routine operations. The estate brought a wrongful death claim under general maritime law. The court permitted recovery because the conduct constituted ordinary negligence that proximately caused the death.
Omar Olson, an accountant at Onyx Pharmaceuticals, prepared an audit report containing errors from ordinary negligence in reviewing financial statements. A third-party investor who relied on the report suffered losses and sued the firm. The court dismissed the claim because ordinary negligence by an auditor does not create liability to non-clients.
Octavia Okonkwo was injured when a vehicle manufactured by General Motors malfunctioned due to a defect combined with her own ordinary negligence in maintenance. She sued under products liability and the defendant raised comparative fault. The court reduced her recovery by the percentage of fault attributable to her ordinary negligence under the comparative negligence doctrine.
Ordinary negligence is a failure to exercise the care of a reasonably prudent person. Gross negligence requires a substantially greater deviation from that standard. In torts this distinction affects damage caps or immunity rules. In criminal law ordinary negligence rarely supports homicide liability while gross negligence can support involuntary manslaughter.
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A statutory violation substitutes a legislatively declared standard of care for the common-law reasonable person standard. The plaintiff must still prove the remaining elements of duty, breach, causation, and damages. Courts treat the violation as ordinary negligence per se rather than automatically imposing a higher degree of fault.
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Punitive damages require proof of actual malice or at least gross negligence showing wanton disregard of rights. Ordinary negligence in failing to verify facts does not meet this threshold. The higher standard protects speech by limiting punishment to more culpable conduct.
…intent to do the plaintiff harm, or that the defendant. . . was guilty of gross negligence and recklessness and not of just ordinary negligence or carelessness in publishing the matter complained of so as to indicate a wanton disregard of plaintiff's rights." The trial court's error in failing to require any finding of actual…