Torts MCQs 2

Question 1

Is recovery for IIED limited to cases where physical injury is suffered?

Answer 1

Recovery for IIED is not limited to cases in which bodily injury occurs.

Question 2

What is the majority rule on the duty of care?

Answer 2

Under the majority rule, a duty of care is owed only to persons who might be foreseeably harmed by the defendant’s negligent conduct.

Question 3

What is the last clear chance rule?

Answer 3

In contributory-negligence jurisdictions, the last-clear-chance rule allows a plaintiff to recover despite his/her contributory negligence if the defendant (1) had the last clear chance to avoid the plaintiff’s injury and (2) failed to use reasonable care to do so.

Question 4

What are superseding causes?

Answer 4

Superseding causes—i.e., unforeseeable, intervening acts that occur after the defendant’s negligence and contribute to the plaintiff’s harm—break the chain of proximate causation.

Question 5

Do negligent intervening acts cut the chain of causation?

Answer 5

No. Negligent intervening acts are typically regarded as foreseeable and therefore do not cut off the defendant’s liability.

Question 6

When is the use of reasonable force permitted to defend others?

Answer 6

A defendant is privileged to use reasonable force in the defense of others when the defendant reasonably believes that (1) the plaintiff is about to inflict harmful or offensive contact upon a third party, (2) the third party has the right of self-defense, and (3) the defendant’s action is necessary to protect the third party.

Question 7

What is the doctrine of avoidable consequences?

Answer 7

Under the doctrine of avoidable consequences, the plaintiff’s failure to mitigate damages reduces the plaintiff’s recovery by the amount of damages that could have been avoided had the plaintiff used reasonable care after the defendant’s tort was committed.

Question 8

What must a plaintiff prove to recover damages in a medical malpractice action?

Answer 8

To recover damages in a medical malpractice action (a specialized negligence claim), the plaintiff must prove that the physician’s conduct fell below the relevant professional standard of care and caused (actual and proximate cause) the plaintiff physical harm.

Question 9

What is the liability of multiple tortfeasors for indivisible harm?

Answer 9

If multiple defendants were negligent and any one of them could have caused the plaintiff’s harm, joint and several liability allows the plaintiff to recover even if it is impossible to prove which defendant actually caused the harm. But the plaintiff must first show that each of the defendants was negligent.

Question 10

When can a private plaintiff sue for public nuisance?

Answer 10

A private plaintiff can sue for public nuisance—i.e., an unreasonable interference with a right common to the general public—only if the plaintiff sustained special damage different from that suffered by the public at large.

Question 11

What is the standard of care for negligence of a professional?

Answer 11

Most professionals (e.g., lawyers) are required to demonstrate the same knowledge, skill, and care as a normal member of the profession in a similar community.

Question 12

Vicarious liability and indemnity

Answer 12

An employer who is vicariously liable for a tort committed by its employee may be liable to the plaintiff for the harm caused by the employee’s tortious conduct. When the employee’s liability has been discharged by the employer, the employer can seek full compensation (i.e., indemnity) from the employee for its loss.

Question 13

Trespass to chattel through use or intermeddling

Answer 13

Trespass to chattels by intentional use of or intermeddling with the plaintiff’s chattel requires proof of actual damages through (1) actual harm to the chattel, (2) substantial loss of use of the chattel, or (3) bodily harm to the plaintiff.

Question 14

Invasion of privacy based on misappropriation of the right to publicity

Answer 14

Liability under this arises when a defendant (1) uses the plaintiff’s name, likeness, or an item closely associated with the plaintiff without authorization, (2) obtains a benefit, and (3) causes the plaintiff an injury.

Question 15

What is the firefighter’s rule?

Answer 15

Under the firefighter’s rule, professional rescuers are barred from recovering in negligence for harm that resulted from the special dangers of their jobs.

Question 16

When is a product defective by design under a risk-utility test?

Answer 16

Under the risk-utility test, a product is defectively designed if (1) the design creates a foreseeable risk of physical harm and (2) that risk could have been mitigated by a reasonable alternative design—e.g., a safer design available at a reasonable cost.

Question 17

What is the duty of a common carrier?

Answer 17

A common carrier owes a heightened duty of care to its passengers due to its special relationship with those passengers. At common law, that duty was described as one requiring the highest level of care consistent with the practical operations of the business.

Question 18

What is required to establish a profession’s applicable standard of care?

Answer 18

Establishing a profession’s applicable standard of care—and a defendant’s deviation from that standard—typically requires expert testimony. But when the defendant’s negligence is so apparent that a lay person could identify it, expert testimony is not required.

Question 19

Strict liability by intrusion of livestock

Answer 19

The owner of an animal—other than a dog or cat—that intrudes upon another’s land is strictly liable for any reasonably foreseeable damage caused by that intrusion. But that liability does not extend to the owner of the land on which a trespassing animal was kept unless the landowner had a right to possess the animal.

Question 20

Who is an intermeddler?

Answer 20

An intermeddler is a person who inserts him/herself into another’s affairs. Being an intermeddler alone is not enough to impose liability. That is because an intermeddler can escape liability by establishing that his/her acts constituted defense of others.

Question 21

What happens when defamatory language applies to a group?

Answer 21

If the defamatory language applies to a group, then a member of the group can maintain a defamation action only if the group is so small that the matter can reasonably be understood to refer to that member, unless there is other evidence that the language refers to that particular member.

Question 22

What is an exception to the physical injury requirement under NIED?

Answer 22

There is an exception to the physical-injury requirement in cases of misinforming someone that a family member has died.

Question 23

Can a statement that contains slight inaccuracies be considered to be true and therefore not defamatory?

Answer 23

Yes. Remember that truth is an absolute defense to defamation but also look for slight inaccuracies as an option

Question 24

Is an auctioneer of a product subject to strict liability with respect to the products auctioned?

Answer 24

NO.

Question 25

Intentional Misrepresentation

Answer 25

Question 26

What are examples of extreme and outrageous conduct for the purpose of IIED?

Answer 26

“FEAR”
Flagrant indecency
Exploiting known or special vulnerability
Abuse of authority
Repeated harassment

Question 27

What are the three special situations that can merit a claim for NIED

Answer 27

Negligent infliction of emotional distress occurs under the special-situations theory when the plaintiff suffers serious emotional distress because the defendant negligently (1) delivered an erroneous announcement of death or illness, (2) mishandled a loved one’s corpse or bodily remains, or (3) contaminated food with a repulsive foreign object.