California Vs Murray

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In Civil Law, negligence is an action done carelessly by the defendant which results in the plaintiff getting harmed. The four elements of negligence are: duty, breach of duty, causation, and damages. The reasonable person standard applies to the defendant, so that the harmful situation can be fixed. The three elements of the reasonable person standard are: likelihood of the occurrence, seriousness of the harm, and the cost to eliminate the harm. The case of California v. Murray (The People of California v. Conrad Robert Murray) will further explain how Negligence is used in court. The first element of negligence is duty, which is responsibility. The second element is breach of duty, which is the unfulfilled responsibility. The first and …show more content…
The second element is the seriousness of the harm, the seriousness can range from minor to major. The third element is the cost to eliminate the harm, which is the treatment or damage rewards. If the cost of the harm is greater than the chance of the harm happening, then the duty was not been breached. In the case California v. Murray, doctor Conrad Robert Murray carelessly gave Michael Jackson an overdose of an anesthetic which resulted in Jackson’s death. Although Murray had been charged with involuntary manslaughter (Criminal Law), he had been negligent towards the care of his patient; Jackson had begged for the anesthetic because he had trouble sleeping, Doctor Murray had full control of the situation and could have avoided Jackson’s death. Doctor Murray’s duty was to help Jackson recover and keep him alive. The breach of duty is the death of Michael Jackson. The causation for the anesthetic is because Murray was taking care of an insomniac who desperately wanted to sleep. There is no dollar amount for the damages, Doctor Murray was sent to …show more content…
Negligence Torts differ from Intentional Torts. With Intentional Torts, the defendant knowingly harms the plaintiff. With Negligence Torts, the defendant does not realize that their careless actions could result in the harm of another person. In the California v. Murray case, Murray did not intentionally murder Michael Jackson. Murray had previously given Jackson small doses of anesthesia, but those doses did not have any success in putting Jackson to sleep, therefore Murray gave Jackson a much larger dose, not knowing it would kill him. Not only does this case work greatly as a Civil Law (negligence) example, it also works well as a Criminal Law (manslaughter)

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