According to CACI 3113 recklessness is something more than just the failure to use reasonable care. Recklessness is more than simple negligence, as it involves more than inadvertence, unskillfulness, incompetence, or a failure to take precautions. Recklessness is defined as a conscious choice of a course of action with knowledge of the high danger to other people involved in it. (Delaney v. Baker 1999)
To establish the claim the plaintiff must be able to prove the following elements:
Thus, to be found liable for reckless conduct the defendant must have knowledge of a high degree of probability that dangerous consequences will result from his actions. Moreover, the defendant should act with deliberate or conscious disregard of those probable consequences.
A person who is acting recklessly does so with the knowledge that his actions involve a risk of causing harm to another people. Thus, a person is conscious of what his conduct, knows that his conduct can cause a harm or injury, but he still engages in the act.
A person who is acting negligently can be unaware that his conduct involves a risk of causing harm, even if he should have known about that. In California law, a person is acting negligently in case he is acting in a way that a reasonably careful person would not act in the same situation, or fails to act in a way that a reasonably careful person would act in the similar situation.
Here are some examples of recklessness:
In case the defendant is found guilty in performing reckless conduct and causing harm or injuries to the plaintiff, then the trier-of-fact may award damages to the plaintiff. Damages must be rationale and be causally related to the accident.
The plaintiff may also be entitled to punitive or exemplary damages, in case he proves by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant was acting with malice.
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