Torts, Negligence & Strict Liability

Question 1

an authoritative secondary source, written by a group of legal scholars, summarizing the existing common law, as well as suggesting what the law should be

written by lawyers not necessarily government

Answer 1

Restatement of the Law of Torts, Second

Question 2

intentional act that creates a reasonable apprehension of an immediate harmful or offensive physical contact

Answer 2

Assault

Question 3

intentional act that creates a harmful or offensive physical contact

Answer 3

Battery

Question 4

legal fiction that if a person directs a tortious action toward A but instead harms B, the intent to act against A is transferred to B

Answer 4

Transferred Intent

Question 5

occurs whenever one person, through force or the threat of force, unlawfully detains another person against his or her will

Answer 5

False Imprisonment

Question 6

occurs when someone harms or interferes with the owner’s exclusive possession of the property but has no intention of keeping the property

Answer 6

Trespass to Personal Property

Question 7

considered the “big brother” of trespass in that it involves the more serious taking of someone else’s property with the intent of permanently depriving the other
- civil side of theft

Answer 7

Conversion

Question 8

car mechanic may rightfully retain a car on which he has worked until he is paid for labor

Answer 8

Artisan’s Lien

Question 9

publication of false statements that harm a person’s reputation

Answer 9

Defamation

Question 10

spoken defamation

Answer 10

Slander

Question 11

written defamation

Answer 11

Libel

Question 12

remarks considered to be so harmful that they are automatically viewed as defamatory

Answer 12

Defamation Per Se

Question 13

making a defamatory statement either knowing the material was false or acting with a reckless disregard for whether or not it was true

Answer 13

Malice

Question 14

acting in an improper or a wrongful way

Answer 14

Misfeasance

Question 15

failing to act

Answer 15

Nonfeasance

Question 16

“the thing speaks for itself”; doctrine suggesting negligence can be presumed if an event happens unless someone was negligent

Answer 16

Res Ipsa Loquitur

Question 17

aka cause in fact, this is measured by the “but for” standard: but for the defendant’s actions, the plaintiff would not have been injured

Answer 17

Actual Cause

Question 18

legal theory that allows plaintiffs to recover proportionately from a group of manufacturers when the identify of the specific manufacturer responsible for the harm is unknown

Answer 18

Market Share Theory

Question 19

once actual cause is found, as a policy matter, the court must also find that the act & the resulting harm were so foreseeably related as to justify a finding of liability

Answer 19

Proximate Cause

Question 20

in negligence, an intervening cause that relieves the defendant of liability

Answer 20

Superseding Cause

Question 21

statutes making bar owners responsible if intoxicated patrons negligently injure 3rd parties

Answer 21

Dramshop Laws

Question 22

negligence by the plaintiff that contributed to his/her injury, it is a complete bar of the plaintiff’s recovery

Answer 22

Contributory Negligence

Question 23

method for measuring the relative negligence of the plaintiff & the defendant with a commensurate decrease in the compensation for the injuries

Answer 23

Comparative Negligence

Question 24

voluntarily & knowingly subjecting oneself to danger

Answer 24

Assumption of Risk

Question 25

a provision that purports to waive liability

Answer 25

Exculpatory Clause

Question 26

liability without having to prove fault

Answer 26

Strict Liability

Question 27

those activities that have an inherent risk of injury & therefore may result in strict liability

Answer 27

Ultrahazardous Activities