The Negligence Burrito: A Tasty Tort on National Burrito Day

Today is National Burrito Day, so let’s wrap up a bar exam favorite in a warm tortilla of legal insight: Negligence.

Negligence is one of the most tested topics on the bar exam, and it’s also one of the most structured. Coincidentally, it’s a lot like a burrito—layered, component-based, and completely ruined if one part is missing.

Let’s break it down:

Photo by Snappr on Unsplash

Negligence = A Fully Wrapped Burrito

To have a solid negligence claim, you need all five elements. Think of each one as a crucial burrito ingredient:

1. Duty = The Tortilla

Everything starts here. Without a tortilla, you’re just holding a mess of fillings. Similarly, without a legal duty owed to the plaintiff, the rest of your negligence analysis falls apart. The tortilla wraps everything together—it’s your starting point and your structure.

2. Breach = The Beans or Meat

This is the substance of the wrongdoing—the core of the claim. Breach is where we ask: Did the defendant fail to act as a reasonable person would under the circumstances (or under whatever the applicable standard of care is)? Whether it’s chicken, steak, or tofu, this is the filling people notice first.

3. Causation = The Salsa and Toppings

Here’s where things get spicy. Causation has two parts:

✅ Actual Cause (but-for cause) is like the beans—fundamental and expected.

✅ Proximate Cause is the salsa. It can make or break the flavor. Does the harm fall within the foreseeable consequences? Or are we throwing pineapple into a carne asada burrito and pretending it's normal?

Causation connects the breach to the harm, just like the right toppings connect your burrito's flavors.

4. Damages = The Folded Ends

You can’t serve a burrito that’s open on both sides — it’ll spill everywhere. Likewise, you can’t have a negligence claim without actual damages. If the plaintiff didn’t suffer harm, you’ve got an incomplete wrap. No damages? No recovery.

One Missing Element = A Broken Burrito

On the bar exam, just like in the kitchen, you need all the components for a complete dish. If one element is missing, the whole negligence burrito falls apart. A negligence claim without breach is like a burrito without filling. A negligence claim without damages is like an empty tortilla. It may look nice, but no one’s biting.