Case Law Bonus Post: Kirby v. Davis

Notes: Again, this case is telling us how to use the facts of a particular case to decide whether or not someone was reckless. We just finished saying in Hopson that risky conduct might not be reckless in emergencies. This case looks at the narrower situation of predictable emergencies. Predictable emergencies can be set apart from emergencies generally because they can- and maybe should- be prepared for, so maybe companies and people should be held liable if they fail to do that. This case law says that if someone made a mistake in an emergency, one of the factors to be considered in deciding whether or not they should be “excused” (held not liable) is whether or not they should’ve been better prepared for that emergency.