Res ipsa loquitur is the Latin phrase describing a
legal doctrine that infers negligence from the very nature of an
accident or injury in the absence of any behavior or activity by
the aggrieved person.
In most negligence cases, the plaintiff must establish a duty of
care, breach of that duty, causation, and injury. But under res
ipsa loquitur, the first three elements are inferred from an
injury that does not ordinarily occur without negligence.
In such cases, the injury is caused by an agency or
instrumentality under the defendant's exclusive control. Or the
injury-causing accident is not caused by any voluntary act or
contribution of the plaintiff.
Typical cases involve airplane accidents, elevator dropping down
shafts, or collateral injury during routine surgery. But, as a
factually idiosyncratic case demonstrates, the doctrine has been
applied to the more mundane.
