Book contents
- feminist judgments: rewritten tort opinions
- Feminist Judgments Series Editors
- Feminist Judgments: Rewritten Tort Opinions
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Preface
- Table of Cases
- Part I Introduction
- Part II The Classics
- Part III Intentional Torts
- Part IV Negligence and Vicarious Liability
- 10 Commentary on Sharon P. v. Arman, Ltd.
- 11 Commentary on Broadnax v. Gonzalez
- 12 Commentary on Boyles v. Kerr
- 13 Commentary on Emerson v. Magendantz
- 14 Commentary on McCarty v. Pheasant Run
- 15 Commentary on Lisa M. v. Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital
- Part V Damages
- Index
10 - Commentary on Sharon P. v. Arman, Ltd.
from Part IV - Negligence and Vicarious Liability
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 November 2020
- feminist judgments: rewritten tort opinions
- Feminist Judgments Series Editors
- Feminist Judgments: Rewritten Tort Opinions
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Preface
- Table of Cases
- Part I Introduction
- Part II The Classics
- Part III Intentional Torts
- Part IV Negligence and Vicarious Liability
- 10 Commentary on Sharon P. v. Arman, Ltd.
- 11 Commentary on Broadnax v. Gonzalez
- 12 Commentary on Boyles v. Kerr
- 13 Commentary on Emerson v. Magendantz
- 14 Commentary on McCarty v. Pheasant Run
- 15 Commentary on Lisa M. v. Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital
- Part V Damages
- Index
Summary
Sharon P. v. Arman, Ltd. is representative of a line of cases refusing to impose a duty of reasonable care on defendants in third-party rape cases. The plaintiff in Sharon P. was raped by an unknown assailant in an underground parking garage owned by the defendant. The California Supreme Court ruled that no duty should be imposed because the rape was not reasonably foreseeable, even though conditions in the garage had been allowed to deteriorate and the underground location invited criminal activity. The rewritten feminist opinion unpacks the concept of foreseeability to uncover hidden male bias in its application. Arguing that women’s experiences of rape and the fear of rape must be taken into account, the feminist opinion concludes that the risk of rape is objectively foreseeable. To conclude otherwise would ignore the systematic vulnerability of women plaintiffs and allow gender bias to infiltrate tort law. The accompanying commentary updates developments in California and elsewhere and argues for extending a duty of reasonable care to all third-party rape cases.
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- Feminist Judgments: Rewritten Tort Opinions , pp. 217 - 236Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020