Business Law

Assignment-4
Submitted to: Sir Rao Raza Hashim
MBA- II
Wadiah Akbar
213-500366
 Conduct a research and find out/ discuss one tort related case in
Pakistan and one in the UK/ USA. Further, assess the effectiveness of
the applicability of the law of tort in Pakistan.
Tort law means something that is wrong, not straight, crooked or twisted. Any injury

or harm caused to a person by another, other than the breach of contract, for which law

provides a remedy. The main aim or the purpose of tort is that to reimburse the victim for the

injurious manner. According to Fedrick Pollock, tort is damage or harm caused by the

carelessness. Salmond defined tort as something that is wrong for which remedy is available

for the damages done. There are five types of torts and is as follows: trespass, nuisance,

defamation, negligence, and conversion. Tort law has a duty payable to a person. If this duty

is not fulfilled then the person who is accountable becomes the person who has committed a

tort (tortfeasor). And further for any damages the user suffers he has then right to sue the

tortfeasor. The reason for the tort law existence is to prevent people from weakening to fulfil

responsibilities. The usual remedy for tort is compensatory damages (that is usually money)

and punitive damages. There are three foremost groups of torts. Firstly, is the intentional tort,

which occurs when a person knowingly or purposely harms a person or acts in a certain way.

For example, throwing a punch at someone or poisoning of food. There is the expectation of

harm. Secondly, is the negligence tort, which occurs when a person is careless in his or her

actions. For example, slip or fall incidents in which there is a wet floor and there is no sign on

the floor. That causes the customers or another person to fall and in return it causes injuries.

This can result in negligence tort. Another example is of professional negligence by doctors

who are unable to treat the patients well or have done something to them while operating that

is unethical. Thirdly, is the strict liability tort, it is the liability that without having proven of

damages, hurts, or negligence the plaintiff can hold the second party responsible for their

products or actions. For example, people are not told about the risk of bungy jumping and

they are completely new to it. And they get badly hurt, then the second party can be held
responsible. There are some basic principles of tort law. Liability, burden of proof, remedies,

and defense. Some of it has been discussed before. Torts are public activities rather than

criminal actions; it is the responsibility of the plaintiff to prove his or her case on the stability

of likelihoods. More than 50% should be proved by the plaintiff. In tort law there is a primary

liability and vicarious liability. Prime or personal obligation is the liability that is caused

because of one-person own misconduct. Whereas, vicarious liability is the liability that is

caused or arises by the relationship with the person who commits tort or something that is

considered to be not ethical. Moving on to the defense, there are two types of defense; one is

contributory negligence and the other is consent. Contributory negligence is one in which the

plaintiff is partially held responsible for the loss, damages, or hurt caused. There are many

activities that occur in business operations that can result in torts to occur. That includes the

competitors and customers. In terms of customers, torts can occur from negligence that

includes product liability. There is no contractual relationship between customers and the

manufactures but there is duty of care. A duty of care, in a tort law, is lawful requirement or

responsibility that is compulsory and forced on an individual to adhere or comply to the

standards of care when they perform acts or actions that could harm others. Although, there

may be no direct existing relationship at first but ultimately a relation is developed in some

form or the other, according to the common law. The duty of care is considered as a formality

or understood responsibilities within the society that are to be fulfilled.

One tort related case that took place in Pakistan was of Ali Zafar’s defamation case.

In 2018, 19th April, Meesha Shafi, a fellow singer, accused Ali Zafar for sexual harassment.

Ali Zafar denied all the claims. A defamation case was filed against Meesha Shafi in which

Ali Zafar filed 1 billion and claimed that Meesha had caused defamed him and destroyed his

reputation, goodwill through false accusations. It was said that it was conspiracy against the

plaintiff to ruin his good image. Court delivered a permanent stay in contrast to Meesha Shafi
till the final result of the case. Meesha didn’t stop here but in fact filed a complaint under

“Protection against harassment of women at workplace act 2010”. This appeal was dismissed.

Meesha after her appeals were dismissed explained that she tried to solve the resolve the

issue privately with Ali Zafar, but he insisted her to visit him. But there were nine witnesses

who said that all the allegations were false and when the recording was going on there was

distance of 6 feet maintained. On the other hand, Ali Zafar said that he too supports the

#MeToo movement but he is totally not in a favor of it been used against him. Nighat Dad,

Meesha’s lawyer was the master mind behind all this, as a result, her NGO deleted all its

audit report and had external capital. There were fake accounts that launched the social media

campaign against him, for which he also had admitted the proof to the department of

cybercrime, FIA. When Ali Zafar publicized this on the news, the social media pages who

were in support of Meesha Shafi were rapidly and instantaneously deleted.

Roots of English common law has departed from the home country to other areas or

countries. There is a difference in the legal methods of other common law countries. England

and United States, on the basis of lawful differences, are at times called countries that are

divided or different by a common law. In countries like United States, Canada, and England

tort law is the mainly the common law that is practiced. These laws practiced in US are less

strict than the English. Public figures in the US cannot charge truthful but biased criticisms of

their doings and actions. On the other hand, in England all the statistics and evidences hold to

be reasonable and accurate. In US, a distinguished tort is meddling with privacy. For

example, a stranger uses one’s picture for advertisement without their permission, secondly,

spying others, or capturing pictures of someone who is awkward and uncomfortable situation.

But in England confidentiality is considered to be marketable. In 2016 February, Google

tested their self-driving car but unfortunately it was crashed into a bus. And that bus was in

Mountain View, Calif. The car sensed a group of sandbags that were placed around a storm
channel and as a result to avoid them it diverged into another lane. As a result, it crashed into

the public bus. This was the first time that had ever happened and was the first case testified

of a self-driving car that caused an accident. For the faulty part of the car, according to the

liability tort law, the drivers of the bus ask for compensation from the self- driving car

manufacturer for a faulty part of the car. However, Google was found to be accountable for

the damages.

 In Pakistan there are not many cases of negligence and on the other hand people are

also not willing to take action because there is lack of awareness due to lack of awareness and

the tort law necessities are spread under different laws. Case of strict liability is a part of

criminal law but not accurately considered as public law. Similarly, tort of remote annoyance

injunctive actions are under civil procedural law and there are also no civil activities

available. Knowledge of torts are limited to books only and like torts are not codified, it is not

being interpreted into events, actions, or activities. In Pakistan, the law of the right to

confidentiality is still to form completely.  One of the noteworthy groups of torts is the

liability of products. If any damage is caused then a strict liability is executed. It is been

codified but still it has to considered or recognized as a tort too. Even the damages that are

given to the consumers (plaintiff) are of less value. In Pakistan, the law of torts, needs to be

revived and should be given an up-to-date form and more importance if the rights of the

people are to be secured and protected.

References
 Ali Zafar. (2020, December 02). Retrieved from

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Zafar.

 Tanase, T. (2001). Torts, in Law. International Encyclopedia of the Social &

Behavioral Sciences, 15775-15779. doi:10.1016/b0-08-043076-7/02864-3

 Modern Commonwealth Caribbean Company Law in Perspective.

(2017). Commonwealth Caribbean Company Law, 1-14.

doi:10.4324/9780203074374-1

 Hayes, A. (2020, August 28). Tort Law Definition. Retrieved from

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/tort-law.asp

 (n.d.). (2013). Failure of Tort law in Pakistan. Retrieved from

https://www.pljlawsite.com/2015art15.html.