I am not a lawyer but would the burden of proof be with the plaintiff to prove the train wreck was the fault of the train company and prove exactly where the train company was negligent. (bottom part example)
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History[edit]
The term comes from Latin and is literally translated "the thing itself speaks", but the sense is well conveyed in the more common translation, "the thing speaks for itself."[1] The earliest known use of the phrase was by Cicero in his defence speech Pro Milone.[2][3] The circumstances of the genesis of the phrase and application by Cicero in Roman legal trials has led to questions whether it reflects on the quality of res ipsa loquitur as a legal doctrine subsequent 52 BC, some 1915 years before the English case Byrne v Boadle and the question whether Charles Edward Pollock might have taken direct inspiration from Cicero's application of the maxim in writing his judgment in that case.[4]
Elements[edit]
1. The injury is of the kind that does not ordinarily occur without negligence.
2. The injury is caused by an agency or instrumentality within the exclusive control of the defendant.
3. The injury-causing accident is not by any voluntary action or contribution on the part of the plaintiff.
4. The defendant's non-negligent explanation does not completely explain plaintiff’s injury.
The first element may be satisfied in one of three ways:
(a) The injury itself is sufficient to prove blatant or palpable negligence as a matter of law, such as amputation of the wrong limb or leaving instruments inside body after surgery.
(b) The general experience and observation of mankind is sufficient to support the conclusion that the injury would not have resulted without negligence, such as a hysterectomy (removal of the uterus) was performed when the patient consented only to a tubal ligation (clipping of the fallopian tubes for purposes of sterilization).
(c) Expert testimony creates an inference that negligence caused the injury, such as an expert general surgeon testifyingthat he has performed over 1000 appendectomies (removal of the appendix) and has never caused injury to a patient's liver. He also does not know of any of his surgeon colleagues having inflicted injury to a patient's liver during an appendectomy. The testimony would create an inference that injuring the liver in the course of an appendectomy is negligence.
The second element is discussed further in the section below. The third element requires the absence of contributory negligence from the plaintiff. The fourth element emphasizes that defendant may defeat a res ipsa loquitur claim by producing evidence of a non-negligent scenario that would completely explain plaintiff's injury and negate all possible inferences that negligence could have occurred.
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The doctrine was not initially welcome in medical malpractice cases. In Gray v. Wright,[17] a seven-inch hemostat was left in Mrs. Gray during gall bladder surgery in June, 1947, and despite her chronic complaints about stomach pain over the years, the device was not found until an X-ray in March, 1953, when it was removed. Her $12,000 award was reversed by the Supreme Court of West Virginia because she was outside the statutes of limitation when she filed and could not prove that the doctor concealed knowledge of his error. This "guilty knowledge" requirement disappeared over the years, and the "discovery rule" by which statutes of limitation run from the date of discovery of the wrongdoing rather than the date of the occurrence has become the rule in most states, allowing res ipsa loquitur to take its rightful place.
Forty years later, leaving a medical device in a patient was medical malpractice, provable without expert testimony, in almost every jurisdiction.[18] Virginia has limited the rule. "In Virginia the doctrine, if not entirely abolished, has been limited and restricted to a very material extent." It may be utilized only when the circumstances of the incident, without further proof, are such that, in the ordinary course of events, the incident could not have happened except on the theory of negligence..."[19]
A contention of res ipsa loquitur commonly is made in cases of commercial airplane accidents. It was part of the commentary in a train collision in California in 2008: "If two trains are in the same place at the same time, someone was negligent."[20]
In some states, the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur is also used as a method of proving the intent or mens rea element of the inchoate crime of attempt. Under the Model Penal Code, "the behavior in question is thought to corroborate the defendant's criminal purpose,"[21] for example:
Possession of materials to be employed in the commission of the crime, which are specifically designed for such unlawful use or which serve no lawful purpose of the actor under the circumstances
— Model Penal Code[21]
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Exclusive control requirement[edit]
The common law traditionally required "the instrumentality or agent which caused the accident was under the exclusive control of the defendant." See e.g., Eaton v. Eaton, 575 A2d 858 (NJ 1990). However, the second and the third versions of the Restatement of Torts eliminated the strict requirement because it can be difficult to prove "exclusive control". Accordingly, the element has largely given way in modern cases to a less rigid formulation: the evidence must eliminate, to a sufficient degree, other responsible causes (including the conduct of the plaintiff and third parties). For example, in New York State, the defendant's exclusivity of control must be such that the likelihood of injury was more likely than not, the result of the defendant's negligence. The likelihood of other possibilities do not need to be eliminated altogether but must be so reduced that the greater probability lies with the defendant.
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++++++++++++++++++++Here is a fictitious example:
John Doe is injured when an elevator he has entered plunges several floors and stops abruptly.
Jane's Corporation built and is responsible for maintaining the elevator.
John sues Jane, who claims that his complaint should be dismissed because he has never proved or even offered a theory as to why the elevator functioned incorrectly. Therefore, she argues that there is no evidence that they were at fault.
The court holds that John does not have to prove anything beyond the fall itself. The elevator evidently malfunctioned (it was not intended to fall, and that is not a proper function of a correctly-functioning elevator).
Jane was responsible for the elevator in every respect/so Jane's Corporation is responsible for the fall.
The thing speaks for itself: no further explanation is needed to establish the prima facie case.