Chapter 4 Terms

Question 1

Torts

Answer 1

A civil wrong not arising from a breach of contract. A breach of a legal duty that proximately causes harm or injury to another.

Question 2

Damages

Answer 2

A monetary award sought as a remedy for a breach of contract or a tortious act.

Question 3

Compensatory Damages

Answer 3

A money award equivalent to the actual value of injuries or damages sustained by the aggrieved party.

Question 4

Special Damages

Answer 4

In a tort case, an amount awarded to compensate the plaintiff for quantifiable monetary losses, such as medical expenses, property damage, and lost wages and benefits (now and in the future)

Question 5

General Damages

Answer 5

In a tort case, an amount awarded to compensate individuals for the nonmonetary aspects of the harm suffered, such as pain and suffering; not available to companies.

Question 6

Punitive Damages

Answer 6

Money damages that may be awarded to a plaintiff to punish the defendant and deter future similar conduct.

Question 7

Assault

Answer 7

any intentional and unexcused threat of immediate harmful or offensive contact

Question 8

Battery

Answer 8

an unexcused and harmful or offensive physical contact intentionally performe

Question 9

False Imprisonment

Answer 9

intentional confinement or restraint of another person’s activities without justification

Question 10

Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress

Answer 10

an intentional act that amounts to extreme and outrageous conduct resulting in severe emotional stress or another.

Question 11

Defamation

Answer 11

wrongully hurting a person’s good reputation

Question 12

Libel

Answer 12

: Defamation in writing or in some other form (such as in a digital recording) having the quality of permanence.

Question 13

Slander

Answer 13

Defamation in oral form

Question 14

Slander per se

Answer 14

actionable with no proof of special damages required
Statement that someone has a loathsome disease
statement that another has committed improprieties while engaging in a profession or trade.
A statement that another has committed or has been imprisoned for a serious crime
statement that a person is unchaste or has engaged in serious sexual misconduct

Question 15

Privilege

Answer 15

In tort law, the ability to act contrary to another person’s right without that person’s having legal redress for such acts. Privilege may be raised as a defense to defamation.

Question 16

Tortfeasor

Answer 16

One who commits a tort

Question 17

Transferred Intent

Answer 17

A legal principle under which a person who intends to harm one individual, but unintentionally harms a different individual, can be liable to the second victim for an intentional tort.

Question 18

Puffery

Answer 18

salesperson’s exaggerated claims concerning the quality of goods offered for sale

Question 19

Fraudulent Misrepresentation

Answer 19

involves intentional deceit for personal gain

Question 20

Negligent Misrepresentation

Answer 20

ey difference between intentional and negligent misrepresentation is whether the person making the misrepresentation had actual knowledge of its falsity

Question 21

Trespass to Land

Answer 21

occurs when a person, without permission, does any of the following:
Enters onto, above, or below the surface of land that is owed by another
Causes anything to enter onto land owned by another
Remains on land owned by another or permits anything to remain on it

Question 22

Licensee

Answer 22

One who receives a license to use, or enter onto, another’s property

Question 23

Trespass to personal property

Answer 23

Occurs when any individual wrongfully takes or harms the personal property of another or otherwise interferes with the lawful owner’s possession and enjoyment of personal property.

Question 24

Conversion

Answer 24

any act that deprives an owner of personal property or of the use of that property without the owner’s permission and without just cause

Question 25

Disparagement of property

Answer 25

occurs when economically injurious falsehoods are made about another’s product or property rather than about another’s reputation

Question 26

Trade libel

Answer 26

aka slander of quality. : the publication of false information about another’s product, alleging that it is not what its seller claims.

Question 27

Duty of Care

Answer 27

e: people are free to act as they please so long as their actions do not infringe on the interests of others

Question 28

Negligence

Answer 28

occurs when someone suffers injury because of another’s failure to live up to a required duty of care.

Question 29

Reasonable Person Standard

Answer 29

standard of behavior expected of a hypothetical ‘reasonable person.’ The standard against which negligence is measured and that must be observed to avoid liability for negligence.

Question 30

Good Samaritan Statutes

Answer 30

a state statute that provides that persons who rescue or provide emergency services to others in peril - unless they do so recklessly, thus causing further harm - cannot be sued for negligence.

Question 31

Dram-Shop Acts

Answer 31

under which a bar’s owner or bartender may be held liable for injuries caused by a person who became intoxicated while drinking at the bar.

Question 32

Superseding Clause

Answer 32

relieves the defendant of liability for injuries caused by the intervening event.

Question 33

Contributory Negligence

Answer 33

a theory in tort law under which a complaining party’s own negligence contributed to or caused his or her injuries. Contributory negligence is an absolute bar to recovery in a minority of jurisdictions.

Question 34

Comparative Negligence

Answer 34

a theory in tort law under which the liability for injuries resulting from negligent acts is shared by all parties who were negligent on the basis of each person’s proportionate negligence.

Question 35

Statement of Fact Requirement

Answer 35

making a negative statement about another person is not defamation unless the statement is false and represents something as a fact rather than a personal opinion

Question 36

Publication Requirement

Answer 36

defamatory statements are communicated (either intentionally or accidentally) to persons other than the defamed party