What if the accident occurs during an activity that contains an inherent risk?
There are many activities that are inherently dangerous, such as using explosives to demolish a building or keeping wild animals on exhibit in a circus. However, because these activities are generally good for society as a whole, courts have created the doctrine of "strict liability" that attempts to balance the competing interests of allowing socially beneficial dangerous activities while "making whole" persons who may be injured as a result of such activities.
If the facts involve what your state considers a "strict liability" situation, it does not matter how careful the user of explosives may be or how experienced he or she was. Even if everyone thought the explosives expert was doing the job in as safe a manner as possible, anyone "accidentally" injured would be entitled to recover the actual damages caused by the explosion. Similarly, if the tiger "accidentally" escapes from what the circus thought was an escape proof cage and roams the neighborhood, the circus is probably responsible for the consequences of the "accident" no matter how careful it was. |