Tort law regulates most human activities: from driving a car to using
consumer products to providing or receiving medical care. Injuries
caused by dog bites, slips and falls, fender benders, bridge collapses,
adverse reactions to a medication, bar fights, oil spills, and more all
implicate the law of torts. The rules and procedures by which tort cases
are resolved engage deeply-held intuitions about justice, causation,
intentionality, and the obligations that we owe to one another. Tort
rules and procedures also generate significant controversy--most visibly
in political debates over tort reform.
The Psychology of Tort Law explores tort law through the lens of
psychological science. Drawing on a wealth of psychological research and
their own experiences teaching and researching tort law, Jennifer K.
Robbennolt and Valerie P. Hans examine the psychological assumptions
that underlie doctrinal rules. They explore how tort law influences the
behavior and decision-making of potential plaintiffs and defendants,
examining how doctors and patients, drivers, manufacturers and
purchasers of products, property owners, and others make decisions
against the backdrop of tort law. They show how the judges and jurors
who decide tort claims are influenced by psychological phenomena in
deciding cases. And they reveal how plaintiffs, defendants, and their
attorneys resolve tort disputes in the shadow of tort law.
Robbennolt and Hans here shed fascinating light on the tort system, and
on the psychological dynamics which undergird its functioning.
