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Introduction

New Hampshire's general Good Samaritan law is RSA 508:12, I, Aid at Scene of Emergency or to Victim of Crime. Good Samaritan laws exist in most states and are meant to encourage people who witness emergency situations or crimes to help injured parties or victims. The laws do this by giving immunity from suit for liability that might otherwise be imposed on those bystanders who voluntarily provide help. Good Samaritan laws are part of what the law calls “negligence,” a very large area of the civil law of torts having to do with who has a duty, who may be liable, and who is immune from liability when there is a personal injury or some other civil wrong. There are several other statutes in New Hampshire that provide similar limited immunity from liability specifically for physicians, medical practitioners, emergency personnel, volunteers and others who, in good faith and without charge, provide emergency services.

68 A.L.R.4th 294. Construction and application of "good samaritan" statutes
Good Samaritan statutes are generally designed to protect individuals from civil liability for any negligent acts or omissions committed while voluntarily providing emergency care. After the first Good Samaritan statute was passed in 1959, all states have enacted some form of the legislation. The primary purpose of the statutes is to encourage prompt emergency care by granting immunity from civil damages and removing the fear of liability.
45 Rutgers L. Rec. 105. (2017-2018) Should Emergency Good Deeds Go Unpunished? An Analysis of the Good Samaritan Statutes of the United States
Every state today has adopted a Good Samaritan statute. The federal government has also adopted the Federal Volunteer Protection Act applying certain protections to volunteers employed by nonprofit organizations and governmental agencies. These laws vary widely in their application and contain explicit or implicit definitions of the types of individuals who qualify for protection, the extent of such protection, and the circumstances under which the shield against negligent harm caused by an attempt to rescue applies.
New Hampshire Municipal Association. Volunteers and Liability: An Overview of Legal Protections and Municipal Exposure. March 2007
The word "tort" simply means "wrong." There are several types of conduct that constitute these legal wrongs. Most injuries to persons and property result in a claim of "negligence." If a legally responsible person or entity had a duty to either do something or not do something, and as a result of a failure to adhere to that duty, a person is injured or property is damaged to some degree, there is tort liability for the negligent act or omission.

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Local Government Law by Peter J. Loughlin
Call Number: KFN1280 .N48
ISBN: 9780327010180
Publication Date: 2011
Any person who, in good faith, renders emergency care at the place of an emergency or to a victim of a crime … to a person who is in urgent need of care as a result of the emergency or crime, shall not be liable in civil damages for his or her acts or omissions in rendering the care so long as he or she receives no direct compensation for the care from or on behalf of the person cared for and so long as the person does not act in a willfully or wantonly negligent manner. See section 1036: Good Samaritan Immunity.
New Hampshire Civil Jury Instructions by Daniel C. Pope
Call Number: KFN1742.6.A65 M874
Negligence is the failure to use reasonable care. Reasonable care is the degree of care which an ordinary, prudent person would use under the same or similar circumstances. ... A sudden emergency is an event that calls for action without time for the deliberate and thoughtful exercise of judgment. If [the jury finds] from the evidence that a party was confronted with a sudden emergency not created by him/her and that he/she acted as a reasonably careful person under those circumstances, that party has not violated the standard of due care.
Personal Injury, Tort, and Insurance Practice by Richard B. McNamara
Call Number: KFN1280 .N48 v.8-9. 2015
Publication Date: 2015
A claim in negligence has four elements. There must be (1) duty owed, (2) breach of the duty, (3) foreseeable harm, and (4) a causal connection between the breach and the foreseeable harm.
Restatement of the Law Third, Torts, Liability for Physical and Emotional Harm by American Law Institute
Call Number: KF395.T6413 A7 2010
ISBN: 9780314917904
Publication Date: 2010
What is an emergency? Emergency can be defined functionally—as the kind of event that prevents reasonable persons from exercising the kind of good judgment that such persons ordinarily exercise. An emergency is an event that requires a decision within an extremely short duration and that is sufficiently unusual so that the actor cannot draw on a ready body of personal experience or general community knowledge as to which choice of conduct is best. If an actor's own safety is threatened by the emergency, the fright the actor may experience can contribute to the explanation of why the actor's judgment may have been less sound than usual.

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Introduction

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