Chapter 5

Question 1

Tort

Answer 1

A wrong. There are three categories of torts: (1) intentional torts, (2) unintentional torts (negligence), and (3) strict liability.

Question 2

Intentional Tort

Answer 2

A category of torts that requires that the defendant possessed the intent to do the act that caused the plaintiff’s injuries.

Question 3

Assualt

Answer 3

(1) The threat of immediate harm or offensive contact or (2) any action that arouses reasonable apprehension of imminent harm. Actual physical contact is unnecessary.

Question 4

Battery

Answer 4

Unauthorized and harmful or offensive direct or indirect physical contact with another person that causes injury.

Question 5

False Imprisonment

Answer 5

The intentional confinement or restraint of another person without authority or justification and without that person’s consent.

Question 6

Merchant Protection Statuses

Answer 6

Statuses that allow merchants to stop, detain, and investigate suspected shoplifters without being held liable for false imprisonment if (1) there are reasonable grounds for the suspicion, (2) suspects are detained for only a reasonable time, and (3) investigations are conducted in a reasonable manner.

Question 7

Tort of Misappropriation of the Right to Publicity

Answer 7

An attempt by another person to appropriate a living person’s name or identify for commercial purposes.

Question 8

Defamation of Character

Answer 8

False statement(s) made by one person about another. In court, the plaintiff must prove that (1) the defendant made an untrue statement of fact about the plaintiff and (2) the statement was intentionally or accidentally published to a third party.

Question 9

Libel

Answer 9

A false statement that appears in a letter, newspaper, magazine, books, photograph, movie, video, and so on.

Question 10

Slander

Answer 10

Oral defamation of character.

Question 11

Product Disparagement

Answer 11

False statements about a competitor’s products, services, property, or business reputation. Also known as trade libel, product disparagement, and slander of title.

Question 12

Intentional Misrepresentation

Answer 12

The intentional defrauding of a person out of money, property, or something else of value. Also known as fraud or deceit.

Question 13

Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress

Answer 13

A tort that says a person whose extreme and outrageous conduct intentionally or recklessly causes severe emotional distress to another person is liable for that emotional distress. Also known as the tort of outrage.

Question 14

Malicious Prosecution

Answer 14

A lawsuit in which the original defendant sues the original plaintiff. In the second lawsuit, the defendant becomes the plaintiff and vice versa.

Question 15

Unintentional Tort

Answer 15

A doctrine that says a person is liable for harm that is the foreseeable consequence of his or her actions. Also known as negligence.

Question 16

Duty of Care

Answer 16

The obligation people owe each other not to cause any unreasonable harm or risk of harm.

Question 17

Breach of the Duty of Care

Answer 17

A failure to exercise care or to act as a reasonable person would act.

Question 18

Injury

Answer 18

A plaintiff’s personal injury or damage to his or her property that enables him or her to recover monetary damages for the defendant’s negligence.

Question 19

Actual Cause

Answer 19

The actual cause of negligence. A person who commits a negligent act is not liable unless actual cause can be proven. Also called causation in fact.

Question 20

Proximate Cause

Answer 20

A point along a chain of events caused by a negligent party after which this party is no longer legally responsible for the consequence of his or her actions. Also called legal cause.

Question 21

Professional Malpractice

Answer 21

The liability of a professional who breaches his or her duty of ordinary care.

Question 22

Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress

Answer 22

A tort that permits a person to recover for emotional distress caused by the defendant’s negligent conduct.

Question 23

Negligent per se

Answer 23

A tort in which the violation of a statute or an ordinance constitutes the breach of the duty of care.

Question 24

res ipsa loquitur

Answer 24

A tort in which the presumption of negligence arises because (1) the defendant was in exclusive control of the situation and (2) the plaintiff would not have suffered injury but for someone’s negligence. The burden switches to the defendant to prove that he or she was not negligent.

Question 25

Good Samaritan Law

Answer 25

A statute that relieves medical professionals from liability for ordinary negligence when they stop and render aid to victims in emergency situations.

Question 26

Superseding or Intervening Event

Answer 26

An event for which a defendant is not responsible. The defendant is not liable for injuries caused by the superseding or intervening event.

Question 27

Assumption of the Risk

Answer 27

A defense a defendant can use against a plaintiff who knowingly and voluntarily enters into or participates in a risky activity that results in injury.

Question 28

Contributory Negligence

Answer 28

A doctrine that says a plaintiff who is partially at fault for his or her own injury cannot recover against the negligent defendant.

Question 29

Comparative Negligence

Answer 29

A doctrine under which damages are apportioned according to fault.

Question 30

Strict Liability

Answer 30

Liability without fault.