What we know and don't know about the psychology of tort law

In this chapter, we review some central issues in tort law, describing what we know about each and outlining some important questions that remain unanswered. First, we explore the psychology relevant to the initiation, development, and settlement of tort litigation. Second, we examine the fault concept that is at the heart of tort law—surveying, in particular, the central construct of negligence. Next, we turn our attention to questions of causal attribution and how factfinders make decisions about the causal connections between tortious conduct and a plaintiff’s harm. We then focus on how defendants respond to tort claims through mounting a variety of defenses. In particular, we examine how the tort system handles plaintiff responsibility through the mechanisms of contributory and comparative negligence. Finally, we consider the role of damages in providing a remedy, exploring what we know about how factfinders determine damages and what questions require additional research.