Chapter 5 - Intentional Torts and Business Torts

Question 1

Define Tort

Answer 1

A violation of a duty imposed by civil law

Question 2

Define Libel

Answer 2

Written Defamation

Question 3

Define Negligence

Answer 3

A tort that concerns harm that arises by accident.

Question 4

Define Tortious Interference with a Contract

Answer 4

Occurs when a defendant deliberately harms a contractual relationship between two other parties

Question 5

Define Fraud

Answer 5

Injuring someone by deliberate deception

Question 6

Who is responsible to begin a tort?

Answer 6

The injured party

Question 7

What can a person be declared at the end of a criminal case?

Answer 7

Guilty or Not Guilty

Question 8

What can a person be declared at the end of a civil case?

Answer 8

Liable or not liable

Question 9

Define Intentional Tort

Answer 9

Torts that involve harm caused by deliberate action.

Question 10

Define Slander

Answer 10

Oral Defamation

Question 11

Define Element

Answer 11

A fact that a plaintiff must prove to win a lawsuit

Question 12

What are the four elements that must be proven to win a defamation case?

Answer 12

Defamatory Statement, Falseness, Communicated, and Injury

Question 13

Define Defamatory Statement

Answer 13

This is a statement likely to harm another person’s reputation.

Question 14

Define Falseness

Answer 14

The statement must be false.

Question 15

Define Communicated

Answer 15

The statement must be communicated to at least one other person other than the plaintiff.

Question 16

Define Injury (as it relates to slander cases)

Answer 16

In many slander cases, the plaintiff generally must show some injury. But in slander cases that involve false statements about sexual behavior, crimes, contagious diseases, and professional abilities, the law is willing to assume injury without requiring the plaintiff to prove it. Lies in these four categories amount to slander per se.

Question 17

Define Slander Per Se.

Answer 17

A type of statement that are, by their nature, presumed to damage a person’s reputation, so therefore not needing to be proved and monetary damages are presumed

Question 18

Which kind of defamation cases are treated like cases of slander per se?

Answer 18

Libel cases are treated like cases of slander per se, and courts award damages without proof of injury.

Question 19

What is a valid defense in a defamation suit against falseness?

Answer 19

Opinion - They cannot be proven true or false.

Question 20

Who receives less protection from defamation?

Answer 20

Government officials and other types of public figures.

Question 21

What is the landmark case regarding defamation against public figures?

Answer 21

New York Times v. Sullivan - Police cheif of Birmingham Alabama claimed that the Times falsely accused him of racial violence on his job. He lost because he could not prove that the Times had acted with actual malice.

Question 22

Due to the landmark case, what additional item does a public figure need to prove to win a defamation suit?

Answer 22

Actual Malice

Question 23

Define Actual Malice

Answer 23

Means that the defendant in a defamation suit knew his or her statement was false and acted with reckless disregard of the truth.

Question 24

Define False Imprisonment. When can a store hold someone?

Answer 24

The intentional restraint of a another person without reasonable cause or consent

Generally, a store may detain a customer or worker for alleged shoplifting provided there is a reasonable basis for the suspicion and detention is done reasonably.

Question 25

Define Battery

Answer 25

A harmful or offensive bodily contact

Question 26

Define Assault

Answer 26

An action that causes another person to fear imminent battery

Question 27

Define Infliction of Emotional Distress

Answer 27

Extreme and outrageous conduct that causes serious emotional harm.
A tort. It can be the intentional infliction of emotional distress, meaning that the defendant behaved outrageously and deliberately caused the plaintiff severe psychological injury, or it can be the negligent infliction of emotional distress, meaning that the defendant’s conduct violated the rules of negligence.

Question 28

What is the Landmark case dealing with Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress?

Answer 28

Jane Doe & Nancy Roe v. Lynn Mills - An antiabortion protester got records of these two women who were to have abortions and publicly protested using their names. The ladies won.

Question 29

Define Compensatory Damages

Answer 29

Damages intended to restore the plaintiff to the position he was in before the defendant’s conduct caused injury
Damages that flow directly from the contract.

Question 30

Define Single Recovery Principal

Answer 30

Requires a court to settle a legal case once and for all, by awarding a lump sum for past and future expenses.

Question 31

How are damages calculated?

Answer 31

• A plaintiff receives money for medical expenses. If a doctor testifies he will need more treatment in the future they try to guess how much it will cost and award those as well.
• 2nd, the defendants are libel for lost wages, past and future.
• 3rd, a plaintiff is paid for pain and suffering.

Question 32

Define Punitive Damages

Answer 32

Punish the defendant for conduct that is extreme and outrageous.

Question 33

What is the idea behind punitive damages?

Answer 33

That a certain behavior is so unacceptable that society must make an example of it.

Question 34

What are the three ‘guideposts’ a court must consider to ensure the punitive damages are reasonable.

Answer 34

• The reprehensibility of the defendant’s conduct
• The ratio between harm suffered and the award. Generally, the punitive award should not be more than 9 times the compensatory award. The Supreme Court, does not completely prohibit punitive damages that exceed the 9-to-1 ratio. The justices merely state that such awards should be reserved for rare cases of unusual reprehensible conduct.
• The difference between the punitive award and and civil penalties used in similar cases.

Question 35

Define Economic Damages

Answer 35

Lost wages, medical expenses, and other measurable loses

Question 36

Define Non-Economic Damages

Answer 36

Pain and suffering and other non measurable loses

Question 37

What four elements must a plaintiff establish to win a Tortious interference with a contract case?

Answer 37

• There was a contract between the plaintiff and a third party
• The defendant knew of the contract
• The defendant improperly induced the third party to breach the contract or made performance of the contract impossible, and
• There was injury to the plaintiff

Question 38

Define Intrusion

Answer 38

A tort if a reasonable person would find it offensive

Question 39

Define Commercial Exploitation

Answer 39

Prohibits the unauthorized use of another person’s likeness or voice for business purposes.

Question 40

Define Conversion

Answer 40

A tort committed by taking or using someone else’s personal property without his permission.

Question 41

What has been the progress at a state and federal level of tort reform?

Answer 41

• About half the states have put in place limits.

- Congress and proposed and debated bills placing limits on tort awards, but so far has not enacted such legislation

Question 42

The United States v. Lopez demonstrates what?

Answer 42

Limitations of federal power

Question 43

What is the primary source of federal power to regulate business?

Answer 43

The Commerce Clause

Question 44

What are the Bill of Rights?

Answer 44

The first 10 Amendments of the Constitution

Question 45

What is the legislation issue when the 15th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause’s “strict scrutiny” test will be used?

Answer 45

Differentiates on the basis of race