Tort Law Practice Exam

Question 1

What is Tort Law

Answer 1

a collection of principles describing the legal system’s civil (non criminal) response to injuries one person inflicts on another

Question 2

What is Corrective Justice about?

Answer 2

Fairness. It’s about what is just, what would be the right thing to do under the circumstances?

Question 3

What is the bigger societal goal of Corrective Justice about?

Answer 3

We want to create a more just and fair society. Backward looking notion and we determine whether this past action has created an imbalance.

Question 4

What is Deterrence?

Answer 4

It is a forward-looking theory that looks at how we can create incentives to behave better or make better decisions.

Question 5

What is the major “question” Deterrence seeks to answer

Answer 5

How can law prevent these things from happening in the future?

Question 6

What is one the law can deter things from happening in the future?

Answer 6

Through the payment of damages

Question 7

What do we consider the best form of Deterrence?

Answer 7

To have person pay for her damages and possibly make them do something different.

Question 8

The courts can make decisions about how we are going to use compensation as a way to prevent future accidents. What question do they ask when making the determination of how the compensation will be used?

Answer 8

Who is in a better position to prevent the accident in the future? Not necessarily who did the wrong.

Question 9

What is Loss Distribution?

Answer 9

Determining which person should pay for the loss who is best able to pay.

Question 10

What kinds of questions do we ask when determining Loss Distribution?

Answer 10

Who has more money? Who can bear this loss easier?

Question 11

In what types of cases do we see questions of Loss Distribution?

Answer 11

In strict liability cases or some negligence cases.

Question 12

What is Negligence?

Answer 12

The defendant did not mean to do anything that the law prohibits, but the defendant failed to act as carefully as the law requires.

Question 13

If the defendant is proved to be negligent, what does this mean for the plaintiff?

Answer 13

A plaintiff can win damages.

Question 14

What are Intentional Torts?

Answer 14

The defendant intentionally injured the plaintiff

Question 15

If the defendant is found to have committed an Intentional Tort, what does this mean for the plaintiff?

Answer 15

A plaintiff can win damages.

Question 16

A defendant will be liable to a plaintiff under Strict Liability. What is Strict Liability?

Answer 16

The defendant acted carefully and had no intent to injure the plaintiff.

Question 17

What idea is the “Reasonable Person Standard” based off of?

Answer 17

The assumption that other people will be “reasonably” careful not to injure us, and we do not need to anticipate their particular personalities and capabilities.

Question 18

Under the Negligence Rule, what 4 things does the plaintiff need to prove their was negligence.

Answer 18

1. that the defendant owed the plaintiff a duty AND
2. that the defendant breached that duty AND
3. causation AND
4. damages/harm

Question 19

What is the Duty Rule?

Answer 19

Each person owes a duty to behave as a reasonable person would under the same or similar circumstances.

Question 20

Dangerous Objects

Answer 20

The reasonable person would exercise more care in proportion to the danger involved in his act.

Question 21

What varies with the Reasonableness Standard?

Answer 21

Doesn’t vary but the amount of care and the kind of conduct required will vary with the circumstances

Question 22

Tell me about Knowledge and Skill

Answer 22

The existence of knowledge, skill, or intelligence superior to that of an ordinary man will demand conduct consistent therewith.

Question 23

The expectation of what a reasonable person would do is affected by the fact that he is in an?

Answer 23

Emergency

Question 24

With regard to Emergencies, jury instruction is not favored, but should be given when…. (3 things)

Answer 24

1. the party seeking the instruction has not been negligent prior to the emergency
2. the emergency had come about suddenly and without warning
   3 reaction to the emergency was spontaneous , without time for reflection

Question 25

If the defendant is a child…

Answer 25

he must exercise the amount of care that an ordinary, reasonable child with his same age, experience, and intelligence would exercise under the same circumstance.

Question 26

Persons with physical disabilities must exercise…

Answer 26

the level of care that an ordinary person with the same physical disability would exercise under the same or similar circumstances.

Question 27

A defendant with a mental disability must exercise…

Answer 27

the level of care that an ordinary, reasonable person without the mental disability would exercise in the same or similar situations.

Question 28

What is the Causation Rule?

Answer 28

To prove causation, a plaintiff must establish that the defendant was both the actual cause AND the proximate cause of the plaintiff’s injury

Question 29

To establish actual cause list the appropriate 6 tests

Answer 29

1. But-for test
2. Multiple Sufficient Causes test
3. Alternative Liability Test
4. Concert In Action Test
5. Market Share Liability Test
6. Loss of Opportunity Test

Question 30

What is the But - For Test?

Answer 30

“but for” the defendant’s act, the plaintiff would not have been injured in the manner he/she was

Question 31

What is the Multiple Sufficient Causes Test?

Answer 31

if the plaintiff sustains injuries as a result of the negligent conduct of two people and it appears the conduct of either one alone would have been sufficient to cause the injury

Question 32

What is the Alternative Liability Test?

Answer 32

if there is only one actual cause, but it is not clear which of two negligent peoples’ negligent act caused the plaintiff’s injury, plaintiff must sue both people

Question 33

What is the Concert In Action Test?

Answer 33

if several people engage in a course of negligent conduct each is liable even though only one of the actually inflicted the injury

Question 34

What is the Loss of Opportunity Test?

Answer 34

if the plaintiff has a preexisting condition that is aggravated by medical negligence then doctors conduct is the “but-for” cause of the plaintiff’s lost opportunity for substantially better recovery

Question 35

What is the literal definition of Res ipsa loquitur?

Answer 35

The thing speaks for itself

Question 36

Res ipsa loquitur permits:

Answer 36

An inference of negligence from circumstantial evidence.

Question 37

Res ipsa loquitur doctrine provides:

Answer 37

that in some circumstances the mere fact of an accidents occurrence raises an inference of negligence that establishes a prima facie case

Question 38

What is a Breach?

Answer 38

is the failure to satisfy the required standard of care.

Question 39

What is negligence per se?

Answer 39

negligence established as a matter of law so that breach of the duty is not a jury question

Question 40

What is proximate cause?

Answer 40

a cause that directly produces an event and without which the event would not have occured

Question 41

Directness (proximate cause), treats a defendant’s conduct…

Answer 41

that is a cause in fact of a plaintiffs harm as a proximate cause if there are no intervening forces between the defendant’s act and the plaintiff’s harm.

Question 42

Substantial Factor (proximate cause), treats a defendant’s conduct…

Answer 42

as a proximate cause of a plaintiff’s harm if the conduct is important enough, compared to other causes of the harm, to justify liability.

Question 43

What is Several Liability?

Answer 43

When two or more parties are jointly and severally liable for a tortious act, each party is independently liable for the full extent of the injuries stemming from the tortious act.

Question 44

What is the translation of Respondeat Superior?

Answer 44

Latin for “let the master answer”

Question 45

What is Respondeat Superior?

Answer 45

a key doctrine in the law of agency, which provides that a principal (employer) is responsible for the actions of his/her/its agent (employee) in the “course of employment.”

Question 46

What is the “contractor for repairs?”

Answer 46

It is an idea that when you call someone to help you with maintenance and that person is injured by that problem while fixing the problem – they cannot seek compensation.

Question 47

What is the “Firefighters Rule?”

Answer 47

Their job it is to rescue that the rescue doctrine does not apply. Basically when someone is paid, they are not allowed to be compensated to take on the risks and rescues.

Question 48

What is an “Attractive Nuisance?”

Answer 48

When the trespassers are children we are talking about an artificial condition on the land.

Question 49

What is “Comparative Negligence?”

Answer 49

a plaintiffs own negligence that proportionally reduces the damages recoverable from a defendant

Question 50

What is “Contributory Negligence?”

Answer 50

It is sometimes regarded as unfair because under the doctrine a victim who is at fault to any degree, including only 1% at fault, may be denied compensation entirely, which is known as pure contributory negligence

Question 51

What is the “Assumption of Risk?”

Answer 51

It is the principle that one who takes on the risk of loss, injury, or damage cannot maintain an action against a party that causes the loss, injury or damage

Question 52

What is the “Implied Assumption of Risk?”

Answer 52

It exists based on someone’s conduct.

Question 53

Under the “Implied Assumption of Risk,” what may the plaintiff get?

Answer 53

Plaintiff may get nothing or something according to jurisdiction. Plaintiff needs to have known about it, appreciated the risk, and voluntarily accepted

Question 54

What is the “Last Chance Doctrine?”

Answer 54

The rule that a plaintiff who was contributorily negligent may nonetheless recover from the defendant if the defendant had the last opportunity to prevent the harm but failed to use reasonable care to do so

Question 55

What is the Justice Andrews and WI approach state with regard to “duty”?

Answer 55

Duty owed to anyone in the world who suffers injuries as a proximate result of defendant’s breach of duty. If a duty is owed to anyone it is owed to everyone. The defendant is responsible regardless of whether the reasonable person would have foreseen the risk of harm in the circumstances to this particular person

Question 56

Justice Cardozo states…

Answer 56

The scope of duty is limited to a foreseeable kind of harm to a foreseeable kind of plaintiff. Defendant may be held liable it must appear that the reasonable person would have foreseen a risk of harm to plaintiff

Question 57

What is the “Rescue Doctrine?”

Answer 57

The principle that a person who negligently endangered a person is liable for injuries to someone who reasonably attempted to rescue the person in danger