Opinion ID: 2366381
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Duty of Reasonable Care

Text: Because the evidence establishes that the Dyer Library Association owed the Binettes an absolute statutory duty to disclose the existence of the underground oil tank, the library association's silence regarding the tank constitutes supplying false information as a matter of law. Although Maine does not recognize the doctrine of negligence per se, violation of a safety statute constitutes evidence of a breach of a duty of reasonable care owed to those the statute is designed to protect. Dongo v. Banks, 448 A.2d 885, 889 (Me.1982). See generally Jones v. Billings, 289 A.2d 39, 41 (Me.1972). The Dyer Library Association's failure to disclose the tank, a violation of section 563(6), is evidence of a breach by the library association of a duty of reasonable care owed to the Binettes, and can be considered by a factfinder along with other evidence relevant to the reasonable care element of the tort of misrepresentation.