TARASOFF V. UC REGENTS case brief

TARASOFF V. UC REGENTS

• Defendant Dr. Moore is a psychologist at UC treating Podder.

• Podder tells D he’s going to kill Tarasoff

• D tries to talk him out of it, then releases him.

• Podder kills Tarasoff

• Tarasoff’s family sue Moore for breach of duty of care: didn’t warn her.

• Issue: does def owe pl duty of care?

• ROL: avoidance of foreseeable harm which requires the control of another’s behavior requires some special relationship with the dangerous person.

• in this case violence was foreseeable and thus there was a duty of care.

• ruled in favor of Tarasoffs