Res ipsa loquitur

Term · Insurance and risk management · MLC-T-INS-002902

A doctrine, Latin for the thing speaks for itself, that lets a jury infer negligence from the nature of an accident when direct evidence is lacking. It applies when the event ordinarily does not occur without negligence, the instrumentality was in the defendant's exclusive control, and the plaintiff did not contribute to the injury. In most jurisdictions it creates only a permissible inference, so the plaintiff keeps the burden of proof.

Table 1. Record
Identifier	MLC-T-INS-002902
Field	Insurance and risk management

Record as JSON

{
  "id": "MLC-T-INS-002902",
  "term": "Res ipsa loquitur",
  "field": "Insurance and risk management",
  "definition": "A doctrine, Latin for the thing speaks for itself, that lets a jury infer negligence from the nature of an accident when direct evidence is lacking. It applies when the event ordinarily does not occur without negligence, the instrumentality was in the defendant's exclusive control, and the plaintiff did not contribute to the injury. In most jurisdictions it creates only a permissible inference, so the plaintiff keeps the burden of proof.",
  "url": "https://mlchart.com/terminology/insurance/res-ipsa-loquitur/"
}

Record 2,936 of 3,708 in Insurance and risk management terminology (MLC-0106). Request the full dataset.