Torts

Question 1

False Imprisonment

Answer 1

1. intending to confine or restrain within boundaries fixed by D
2. those actions indirectly/directly result in such confinement
3. P is conscious of confinement or is harmed by it

Question 2

Battery

Answer 2

1. D causes harmful or offensive contact

2. Acts with intent to cause such contact, or apprehension of contact

Question 3

Assault

Answer 3

D acts with intent to cause harmful or offensive contact (or imminent apprehension) and an imminent apprehension directly or indirectly results

Question 4

Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress

Answer 4

1. D is liable for intentionally or recklessly acting
2. with extreme and outrageous conduct
3. that causes P severe emotional distress

Question 5

Conversion

Answer 5

1. D intentionally commits an act
2. Depriving the P of possession of her chattel or interfering (dominion or control) with P’s chattel
3. in a manner so serious as to deprive P of the use for chattel
   * damages are chattel’s full value at time of conversion

Question 6

Trespass to land

Answer 6

1. D’s intentional act
2. causes a physical invasion of P’s land

• *need only intent to enter
• *D does not need to know that the land belongs to another

Question 7

Private nuisance

Answer 7

1. a thing or activity that substantially and unreasonably interferes with another’s individual use and enjoyment of their land

Question 8

Substantial Interference (Private Nuisance)

Answer 8

offensive, inconvenient, or annoying to a normal, reasonable person in the community

Question 9

Public nuisance

Answer 9

An unreasonable interference with a right common to the general public
ex. air pollution, interference with use of public highways

Question 10

Does a private citizen have a claim for public nuisance?

Answer 10

Yes, but only if they suffer harm that is different in kind from that suffered by the general public

Question 11

Trespasser

Answer 11

Someone who enters or remains upon the land of another w/out consent or privilege to do so

Question 12

Attractive Nuisance

Answer 12

Land possessor may be liable for injuries to children trespassing on the land if

1. An artificial condition exists in a place where the land possessor knows or has reason to know children are likely to trespass
2. land possessor knows or has reason to know that the condition poses an unreasonable risk of death or seriously bodily injury to children
3. children do not discover or cannot appreciate the danger presented by the condition
4. burden of maintaining the condition and burden of eliminating the danger are slight compare to the risk of harm
5. land possessor fails to exercise reasonable care to protect children

Question 13

Res Ipsa Loquitur

Answer 13

Circumstantial evidence of negligence that does not change the standard of care (does not apply if there is direct evidence of the cause of the injury)

1. accident was of a kind that ordinarily does not occur in the absence of negligence
2. it was caused by an agent or instrumentality within the exclusive control of the D; and
3. it was not due to any action on the part of P

Question 14

Bystander Recovery (negligent infliction of emotional distress)

Answer 14

Most states allow a bystander P outside the zone of danger to recover for emotional distress if that P

1. is closely related to the person injured by the D
2. was present at the scene of the injury; and
3. personally observed the injury

*emotional distress must be manifested by physical symptoms

Question 15

Detour

Answer 15

Minor and permissible deviation from the scope of employment

Question 16

Frolic

Answer 16

An unauthorized, substantial deviation

Question 17

Pure comparative negligence

Answer 17

P’s contributory negligence is not a complete bar to recovery, P’s full damages are calculated by the trier of fact and then reduced by the proportion that P’s fault bears to the total harm

Question 18

Strict Liability is imposed when

Answer 18

1. dangerous activities
2. animals
3. defective or dangerous products

Question 19

Abnormally dangerous

Answer 19

1. foreseeable and highly significant risk of physical harm, even when reasonable care is exercised
2. activity is not commonly engaged in
   * *look at inherent nature of activity**

Question 20

Wild Animals
(have not been generally domesticated in the US, and are likely, unless restrained, to cause personal injury)

Answer 20

owner is strictly liable for harm cause, if

1. harm arises from a dangerous propensity that is characteristic of such a wild animal
2. owner has reason to know

Question 21

Abnormally dangerous animals

Answer 21

1. owner is strictly liable for injures caused by the animal if he knows or has reason to know
2. that the animal has dangerous propensities abnormal for the animal’s category or species
3. harm results from those dangerous propensities

Question 22

Strict products liablity

Answer 22

1. product was defective (manufacture, design, failure to warn)
2. defect existed at time product left d’s control
3. defect caused P’s injuries when product was used in an intended or reasonably foreseeable way

Question 23

Consumer expectation test

Answer 23

Ask, does the product include a condition not contemplated by the ordinary consumer that is unreasonably dangerous to them?

Question 24

Risk utility test

Answer 24

Do the risks posed by the product outweigh the benefits

Question 25

Defamation

Answer 25

1. D’s defamatory language
2. is of or concerning the P
3. is published to a 3P who understands the defamatory nature
4. damages’s P’s reputation

Question 26

Defamation - matter of public concern - P must prove?

Answer 26

Fault on part of D

if D is a public official/public figure, P must prove malice

Question 27

Libel

Answer 27

Defamation by words written, printed, or otherwise recorded

P need only prove general damages

Question 28

Slander

Answer 28

Defamation by spoken word, gesture

P must prove special damages

Question 29

Slander Per se

Answer 29

1. committing a crime
2. conduct reflect on the P’s lack of fitness to conduct his business, trade, or profession
3. having a loathsome disease

Question 30

Defenses to defamation

Answer 30

1. Truth (absolute defense) (truthful statement is not defamatory)
2. Consent
3. absolute privilege
   a. made in course of judicial proceedings
   b. in course of legislative proceedings by the participants to the proceeding
   c. course of performance of legislative duties
   d. between spouses concerning a third person
4. required publications

Question 31

Invasion of privacy

Answer 31

I FLAP (intrusion, false light, Appropriation private facts)

Question 32

Misappropriation of the right to publicity

Answer 32

1. D’s unauthorized appropriation of the P’s name, likeness, or identity
2. For D’s advantage
3. lack of consent
4. resulting injury

Question 33

intrusion upon seclusion

Answer 33

D’s act of intruding physically or otherwise, into the P’s private affairs, solitude, or seclusion, if the intrusion is highly offensive to a reasonable person

Question 34

Placing P in false light

Answer 34

P must prove that D

1. made public facts about the P that
2. Placed the P in a false light
3. which false light would be highly offensive to a reasonable person

*most require P prove actual malice