A tort is an action that leads to injury or harms another party to a civil wrong for which law courts impose liability. In tort, injury is the incursion of legal right, while harm refers to loss the plaintiff suffers (The Babcock Law Firm LLC, 2021). On the other hand, crime refers to the act of violation of a person's duty or an entity owes a third party for which legal law states that amends shall be initiated.
In the Exxon Oil spillage case, the company committed a tort. Under tort law, Exxon has a duty to prevent any act that can cause injury to a third party. Even though the oil spill was not intentional, the company is required by the law to ensure it takes maximum precautions to avoid harming the public from its actions. Due to the oil spill, Exxon breached the law of invasion of the right to privacy. The law of invasion of the right to privacy states that any person or entity must protect a third party's right and avoid being subjected to intrusions (The Babcock Law Firm LLC, 2021). Exxon's oil spill may have occurred due to negligence because the company failed to take certain precautions to ensure that the public rights' is not harmed by its operations. Therefore, Exxon was held liable for the demands the plaintiffs suffered. In the Exxon case, the United States Supreme Court confirmed that the spillage caused economic damages of approximately $ 500 million, which was later slashed down by the punitive award (Legal Information Institute, 2020). Because the company failed to take maximum precaution to prevent the spillage, which caused harm to plaintiffs it is considered a tort.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
References
Legal Information Institute. (2020). Exxon shipping Co. v. Baker . LII / Legal Information Institute. https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/cert/07-219
The Babcock Law Firm LLC. (2021, February). types of torts and examples of tort cases . Denver Workers' Compensation Lawyer: Mack Babcock. https://www.injurylawcolorado.com/legal-library/tort-law-types.html
