Torts

Question 1

Julie has a cat named Brooke

Answer 1

• tortoiseshell cat
• has “tortitude”

Question 2

torts

Answer 2

• torts are wrongful actions
• civil offenses, not part of criminal law at all
• Some torts have the same name as criminal offenses
  
  • If someone punches you in the face, they can
    
    • be charged with the crime of assault
    • also be sued in civil court for the tort of assault

Question 3

tortfeasor

Answer 3

• person who commits a tort is called a tortfeasor
• usually the defendant

Question 4

9/11 death benefits distribution

Answer 4

• Judge Feinberg developed a formula for determining future wages

Question 5

• McDonald’s Case - basic *

Answer 5

• Stella Liebeck
• 79 years old
• Albuquerque

Question 6

McDonald’s case - details

Answer 6

• Facts
  
  • 49 cent cup of coffee
  • Passenger in car that went through drive-thru at McDonalds
  • Spilled entire cup of coffee on lap, stayed there for 90 seconds
  • 3rd degree burns on 6% of her skin, lesser burns on 16%
  • 8 days in the hospital, skin grafts; lost 20 pounds (down to 83 pounds)
  • Two years of medical treatment
• Damages
  
  • Stella sought for medical costs of $20,000
  • McDonalds offered $800
• Lawsuit
  
  • Retained Texas attorney named Reed Morgan
  • Filed a suit for gross negligence in New Mexico second judicial district court
  • • Gross negligence for selling coffee that was “unreasonably dangerous and defectively manufactured”
  • $90,000; $225,000
  • McDonalds franchises required coffee to be served at 180-190 degrees
    
    • In two seconds it would cause 3rd degree burns

Question 7

McDonalds case - ruling

Answer 7

• • Comparative negligence
• o Jury found McDonalds was 80% negligent
• o And Stella Liebeck was 20% negligent
• • Jury awarded
• o $200,000 in compensatory damages (then reduced by 20%)
• o $2.7 million in punitive damages (2 days of coffee revenues)
• o Judge reduced damages to $480,000 (three times compensatory damages)
• • Finally settled out of court for less than $600,000

Question 8

Starbucks case

Answer 8

• Man burned by hot tea from an “improperly lidded cup”
• 3rd degree burns to hand

Question 9

Green v. Boddie Noel Enterprises (Hardees)

Answer 9

• 1997
• Case filed in US District Court Western District
• Diversity of citizenship applied
• Virginia law
• Products liability
• Summary judgement motion
  
  • Ruled Green cannot make a prima facie case
  • Green lost; Hardees won

Question 10

classification of torts

Answer 10

• Intentional torts
  
  • against persons
  • against property
• Unintentional torts (negligence torts)

Question 11

intentional torts against persons

Answer 11

Focus on these three

• Assault and battery
• False imprisonment
• Defamation (libel and slander)

Question 12

tort of Assault and battery

Answer 12

• …

Question 13

tort of False imprisonment

Answer 13

• …

Question 14

tort of Intentional infliction of emotional distress

Answer 14

• …

Question 15

Intentional torts against property

Answer 15

• Focus on conversion

Question 16

conversion

Answer 16

• Similar to crime of larceny
• intentional tort against property

Question 17

appropriation

Answer 17

• The use by one person of another person’s name, likeness, or other identifying characteristic, without permission and for the benefit of the user
• Right to privacy includes right to exclusive use of his or her identity
• States have statutes preventing appropriation
• In general, courts have ruled that names can be used if they are reverencing an idea, but not for exploitation

Question 18

trespass to personal property

Answer 18

• intentional tort against property
• …

Question 19

Celebrity appropriation:

Rosa Parks and OutKast

Answer 19

• Outkast amed a song “Rosa Parks”
• Rosa Parks family did not like the use of her name
• Family sued the record label in federal court
• Settled out of court—charity and education

Question 20

Celebrity appropriation:

Naked Cowboy

Answer 20

• Robert Burke
• Street performer in NYC
• Appears in ads for Chevy, licensed his name and likeness to companies
• M&Ms decided to use his likeness in the form of a naked cowboy M&M on billboards in Times Square
• Burke sued in federal court for appropriation, but eventually focused on trademark
• Court ruled that …

Question 21

proximate cause

Answer 21

• …

Question 22

defamation

Answer 22

• Libel – written defamation
• Slander – spoken defamation
• Defamation must be made public, published
• Public figures have a higher burden to prove defamation: must prove “actual malice” (the knowledge of falsity or the reckless disregard for the truth)

Question 23

assault and battery

Question 24

false imprisonment

Question 25

defenses to negligence torts

Answer 25

• Contributory negligence
  
  • few jurisdictions
  • Plaintiff recovers nothing if he is at fault
• Comparative negligence
  
  • more common
  • As long as plaintiff is less than 50% at fault, he can recover pro rata share of verdict

Question 26

Harris Teeter v. Burroughs - details

Answer 26

• Supreme Court of Virginia, 1991
• Product liability case
• Burroughs ate the cake
• Ordered a sheet cake from the store for birthday party with rainbow icing only
• Found that cake had two plastic birds on it
• White birds were resting on white clouds
• She added candles and added plastic carebear ornaments
• Kids did not eat birds
• Plaintiff swallowed a piece of cake whole without chewing
• Plaintiff had plastic bird removed from colon a few weeks later
• Main issue was whether placing white birds on white clouds was negligent

Question 27

Harris Teeter v. Burroughs - ruling

Answer 27

• Birds were not “deleterious substance” (foreign matter) in food
• Court ruled that Harris Teeter was not negligent because cake was free from foreign matter and was fit for human consumption