Torts - Adaptibar

Question 1

Is Battery an intentional tort?

Answer 1

Batter IS an intentional tort, and a defendant must be capable of forming the intent to commit the act of an offensive or harmful touching of the plaintiff’s person. (a mental intent is necessary)

Question 2

Need a person intend that harm occur?

Answer 2

No, a person need only intend to do the act that causes the harm.

Question 3

Absent intent, is there a cause of action for trespass?

Answer 3

No.

Question 4

What is a prima facie case for trespass to land?

Answer 4

It consists of:

1. an act of physical invasion of the plaintiff’s real property by the defendant;
2. intent on the defendant’s part to bring about a physical invasion of the plaintiff’s real property; and
3. causation

Question 5

What is the intent required to show trespass?

Answer 5

The intent to put the cause into action.

Question 6

Are children liable for their intentional torts?

Answer 6

Yes, when they are capable of forming the requisite intent.

Question 7

What is the doctrine of transferred intent?

Answer 7

If a defendant has the requisite intent for the commission of a battery, his inadvertent touching of a third person will still result in battery

Question 8

What may a plaintiff recover in a pure comparative rule jurisdiction?

Answer 8

The plaintiff may recover his full amount of damages, less the portion attributed to his own negligence.

Question 9

What is the prima facie case for conversion?

Answer 9

1. an act by the defendant interfering with the plaintiff’s right of possession in the chattel;
2. intent to perform the act to bring about the interference with the plaintiff’s right of possession;
3. causation; and
   
   1. damages

Question 10

When does conversion occur?

Answer 10

When a defendant intentionally commits an act depriving the plaintiff of possession of her chattel or interferes with the plaintiff’s chattel in a manner so serious as to deprive the plaintiff use of the chattel.

Question 11

What are damages for conversion?

Answer 11

The full market value at the time of the conversion.

Question 12

When is a rescuer a foreseeable plaintiff?

Answer 12

A rescuer is a foreseeable plaintiff as long as the rescue is not done recklessly

Question 13

When is the party being rescued liable?

Answer 13

The party being rescued is liable if he negligently puts himself or a third party in peril and the rescuer is injured attempting a rescue

Question 14

What is the best defense against a negligence claim?

Answer 14

You should challenge one of the key elements of negligence: usually foreseeability.

Question 15

What is a nuisance?

Answer 15

A tortious harm that interferes with either private property rights or public rights.

Question 16

What is a private nuisance?

Answer 16

A substantial, unreasonable interference with another private individual’s use or enjoyment of property.

Question 17

What is a public nuisance?

Answer 17

An act that unreasonably interferes with the health, safety, or property rights of the community.

Question 18

What is needed for a plaintiff to recover damages for a public nuisance?

Answer 18

The private injury suffered must be unique damage not suffered by the public at large (unique harms NOT suffered by the public at large)

Question 19

What is the prima facie case for defamation?

Answer 19

1. defamatory language;
2. of or concerning the plaintiff;
3. publication; and
4. damage to the reputation of the plaintiff

Question 20

What must a public figure (i.e. nationally known athlete) or a matter of public concern prove in a defamation case?

Answer 20

Falsity and fault by actual malice.

Question 21

When does a party act with actual malice?

Answer 21

If he or she has knowledge that the statement was false or a reckless disregard as to the truth or falisty of the statement.

Question 22

What is vicarious liability?

Answer 22

It is a form of liability in which the defendant is liable for the actions of someone else (typically raised in an employment/agency relationship)

Question 23

What is the “core” of vicarious liability?

Answer 23

the relationship between the parties, such that the defendant had some ability or duty to control the other individual

Question 24

Does the defendant’s belief in the need to use force to defend another need to be reasonable?

Answer 24

Yes, it must be at least reasonable.

Question 25

If a defendant makes a negligent mistake about whether the third party is in physical danger, or about whether the defendant’s proposed physical contact will help avoid danger, will the defendant be able to invoke the defense-of-others defense?

Answer 25

NO!

Question 26

For a defendant who mistakenly believed a third party was in danger, what is necessary to invoke the privilege of defense of others?

Answer 26

The mistake must have been reasonable.

Question 27

Prima Facie case for trespass to land

Answer 27

1. an act of physical invasion of plaintiff’s real property by the defendant;
2. intent by the defendant to bring about a physical invasion of the plaintiff’s real property; and
3. causation

Question 28

Is a mistake as to the lawfulness of entry a defense to trespass?

Answer 28

No, as long as the defendant intended the entry upon that particular piece of land

Question 29

What does negligence per se require?

Answer 29

1. there was a criminal or other regulatory statute/ordinance/law that imposed a penalty for its breach;
2. the defendant violated that law;
3. the harm caused by the violation was the type of harm that the law was intended to protect against;
4. the plaintiff was in the class of individuals the law was intended to protect; and
5. the violation of the law caused (both proximate and actual causation) the harm to the plaintiff.

Question 30

Prima facie case for defamation

Answer 30

1. defamatory language on the part of the defendant;
2. that the defamatory language was of or concerning the plaintiff;
3. publication of the defamatory language by the defendant to a third person; and
4. damage to the reputation of the plaintiff

Where defamation refers to a public concern or involves a matter of public concern, the plaintiff also needs to prove:

1. falsity and
2. fault by the defendant

Question 31

To prevail against a defendant on defamation of a private person involving a matter of public concern, what must the plaintiff demonstrate?

Answer 31

That:

1. the defamation was false;
2. the defendant was negligent; and that
3. the defendant’s negligence caused actual harm to the plaintiff

Question 32

What is the prima facie case for public disclosure of private facts?

Answer 32

1. publication or public disclosure by the defendant of private information about the plaintiff, and
2. the matter made public is such that its disclosure would be highly offensive to a reasonable person

Question 33

What are the elements of intentional infliction of emotional distress?

Answer 33

1. defendant’s intentional (with purpose or knowledge to a substantial certainty); or reckless
2. extreme and outrageous conduct;
3. that causes the plaintiff severe emotional distress

Question 34

When is a manufacturer held strictly liable?

Answer 34

When a flaw in the manufacturing process makes a product more dangerous than it was intended

Question 35

Is ordinary contributory negligence a defense in a strict products liability action?

Answer 35

No, it is not a defense where the plaintiff merely failed to discover the defect or guard against its existence or where the plaintiff’s misuse was reasonably foreseeable

Question 36

Is assumption of risk a defense in a strict products liability action?

Answer 36

It may be, where the plaintiff engaged in voluntary and unreasonable conduct. The plaintiff must use the product despite discovering the defect and being aware of the danger.

Question 37

When may a person engage in slef-defense?

Answer 37

When he reasonably believes he is being or is about to be attacked. In general, retreat or an attempt to retreat is not necessary.

Question 38

Does a landowner owe a duty to undiscovered trespassers for dangerous conditions on his premises?

Answer 38

No!

Question 39

What duty is owed by a landowner to anticipated trespassers?

Answer 39

The landowner owes a duty to warn and make safe concealed artificial conditions that he knows of and that pose a risk of serious bodily harm.

Question 40

When is a trespasser “discovered”?

Answer 40

As soon as the landowner is aware of the trespasser’s presence.

Question 41

When is a trespasser anticipated?

Answer 41

If the landowner knew or should have known that persons were likely to or frequently did trespass on his property.

Question 42

What standard of care is owed to a licensee?

Answer 42

A licensee is one who enters another’s land with the owner’s consent for their own purpose or business (i.e. a social guest). A landowner owes a licensee a duty to warn or make safe known highly dangerous artificial and natural conditions and to exercise reasonable care.

Question 43

What standard of care is owed to an invitee?

Answer 43

An invitee is one who enters the land of another in relation to the landowner’s business or as a member of the public who enters the landowner’s land for a purpose for which the land is held open to the public. A landowner owes an invitee a duty to make reasonable insoections to discover, warn and/or make safe concealed artificial and natural conditions that pose a serious risk of bodily harm or death.