"In each of these courses, you will learn an identical pattern for analyzing a lawsuit: Duty, Breach, Causation, Defenses, Damages. These may be taken up in different orders. The steps may even be given different names. But the essence is the same: 1. Did the defendant owe a duty that is the subject of the lawsuit? Duties are what we might causally think of as “the law,” the things we must do or not do. They are created by legislatures, contracts, or courts. 2. Did the defendant breach the duty owed? Duties are often stated in general terms, and the question of breach is whether the duty was violated under the specific facts of the case. 3. Did the defendant’s breach of a duty cause the result specified in the law, typically an injury to the plaintiff or victim? This step usually involves two separate questions, one of logic and one of policy: whether the breach was a but-for cause of the injury and whether it was a proximate cause. 4. Defenses, like proximate cause, are policy-based reasons to refuse to find all or some liability. 5. Damages, or remedy, actually varies quite a bit among the subjects."