What constitutes an unintentional tort under negligence?

In the context of negligence, an unintentional tort occurs when a person fails to act with the level of care that a reasonably prudent person would exercise in similar circumstances. This concept is crucial to understanding negligence claims because it emphasizes that the harm caused was not deliberate or intentional but rather the result of carelessness or a lack of proper caution.

The standard of care is typically defined by what an average person would do in the same situation, and when someone deviates from this standard, it can lead to liability for any resulting damages. For instance, if a driver does not pay attention while driving and causes an accident, they may be deemed negligent because they did not act as a reasonable person would have under similar conditions.

In contrast to this, willful damage to property or intentional infliction of emotional distress both involve deliberate actions, which do not fall under unintentional torts. Likewise, failure to follow local laws may indicate negligence, but it does not specifically capture the essence of acting unreasonably in a general context, which is central to what defines an unintentional tort. Therefore, the concept of failing to act as a reasonable person would is fundamentally aligned with the principles of negligence and unintentional torts.