Also known as: reasonably foreseeability · foreseeable · foreseeability
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A characteristic of harm or conduct indicating that a reasonable person in the actor's position would anticipate it as a probable or possible result of the actor's conduct. This quality determines whether a risk falls within the scope of a duty of care or constitutes a natural consequence of unlawful activity.
Rhea Reynolds left her car unlocked with the keys inside in a high-crime area. A thief took the car and struck a pedestrian. The thief's conduct was a foreseeable action that Rhea's omission created an unreasonable risk of producing.
Regal Apparel bought a truck whose wheel collapsed because the manufacturer had used defective wood. The driver, who had no contract with the manufacturer, suffered injuries. The manufacturer owed a duty because the driver was a foreseeable plaintiff who would use the product.
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Ronald Reed committed the misdemeanor of reckless driving by speeding through a residential neighborhood. His car struck and killed a child who darted into the street. Because the death was a foreseeable consequence of the unlawful conduct, the misdemeanor-manslaughter rule applied.
Riverfront Developments left an excavation site unsecured. A third party pushed a bystander into the hole, causing injury. The intervening push did not break the chain of causation because the risk of harm through another force was one the developer had created and increased.
Renee Rogers carried a package of fireworks onto a crowded train platform. The package fell and exploded, dislodging a scale that struck a woman standing far down the platform. The woman was not a foreseeable plaintiff because she stood outside the zone of danger created by the negligent act.
Raphael Rivera committed arson by setting fire to an abandoned warehouse. A firefighter died while battling the blaze. The death counted as involuntary manslaughter because it was a foreseeable consequence of the felony.
A defendant owes a duty only to plaintiffs within the range of reasonably foreseeable risk created by the conduct. If a reasonable person would not have foreseen injury to a person in the plaintiff's position, no duty exists even if injury occurs.
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An intervening force does not relieve the actor of liability when the negligent conduct created or increased the foreseeable risk of harm through that force and was a substantial factor in causing the harm.
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When the underlying misdemeanor is malum prohibitum, most courts require that the resulting death be a foreseeable or natural consequence of the unlawful conduct before manslaughter liability attaches.
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Yes. In products liability based on negligence, a manufacturer owes a duty of due care to any foreseeable plaintiff, including users, consumers, and bystanders, regardless of contractual privity.
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…handicapped." The Act also provides that, in making this determination, "account may be taken of the pregnant woman's actual or reasonably foreseeable environment." It also permits a physician, without the concurrence of others, to terminate a pregnancy where he is of the good-faith opinion that the abortion "is immediately necessary to…