Torts

Question 1

Defamation PFC

Answer 1

Defamation requires a defamatory statement, of or concerning the plaintiff, published to a 3P, and damages.

Question 2

Defamatory Statement

Answer 2

A defamatory statement is one that harms a person’s reputation by diminishing esteem, respect, or goodwill toward that person or deterring others from associating.

Question 3

Of or concerning the plaintiff

Answer 3

A reasonable person must believe that the defamatory statement must be about a specific person.

Question 4

Published to a 3P

Answer 4

The statement must have been intentionally or negligently communicated to a 3P who understood its defamatory nature.

Question 5

Special damages

Answer 5

Slander is spoken damages, and unless the statement constitutes slander per se, special damages must be met. Special damages require the plaintiff to prove that a 3P heard the defendant’s defamatory statements and acted adversely toward them. Most often, special damages include economic loss like loss of employment or business.

Question 6

Slander per se

Answer 6

Under the doctrine of slander per se, a plaintiff alleging slander need not plead and prove special damages if the statement defaming him accuses him of a crime, conduct that reflects his lack of fitness to perform business, sexual misconduct, or having a loathsome disease.

Question 7

Matter of public concern or public figure

Answer 7

Whenever the statement is of public concern or involves a public figure, the plaintiff must prove falsity and fault.

Question 8

Public figure - malice

Answer 8

If a plaintiff is a public figure, he must prove actual malice which requires a showing of knowledge that the statement was false, or a reckless disregard as to whether it was false

Question 9

Private person

Answer 9

If the plaintiff is a private figure, then he need only to prove negligence regarding the falsity of the statement.

Question 10

Qualified Privilege

Answer 10

Speakers may have a qualified privilege to make a statement if it is in the interest of the publisher, in the interest of the recipient, or it affects an important public interest.

Question 11

IIED

Answer 11

A defendant is liable for intentionally or recklessly acting with extreme and outrageous conduct that causes the plaintiff severe emotional distress. Public figures must also prove publication of a false statement with actual malice to recover.

Question 12

Extreme and outrageous conduct

Answer 12

Conduct is extreme and outrageous if it exceeds the possible limits of human decency, so as to be entirely intolerable in a civilized society.

Question 13

Severe emotional distress

Answer 13

If the plaintiff is hypersensitive and experiences severe emotional distress unreasonably, then there is no liability unless the defendant knew of the plaintiff’s heightened sensitivity.

Question 14

False Light

Answer 14

To place one in false light, the disclosure must have attributed to the plaintiff actions that he did not take or views that he does not hold. It must also be highly offensive to a reasonable person. Additionally, most jurisdictions require the plaintiff to prove actual malice.

Question 15

General Damages

Answer 15

General damages are those damages that naturally flow from the injury or harm and sim to place the plaintiff in the same position he was in prior to the tort. A plaintiff is entitled to compensation for loss of physical abilities and emotional distress caused by fear, anxiety, and humiliation.

Question 16

Punitive Damages

Answer 16

Punitive damages serve to punish a defendant who engages in serious misconduct with an improper state of mind, such as malice.

Question 17

Strict Liability: Domestic Animals

Answer 17

An owner or possessor of a domestic animal is strictly liable for harm done by that animal only if he knows or has reason to know that the animal has dangerous propensities abnormal for the animal’s category or species, and the harm results from those dangerous propensities. Otherwise, at CL, the owner of a domestic animal is liable only for negligence.

Question 18

Negligence PFC

Answer 18

Negligence requires a showing of a duty, breach, causation (both actual and proximate), and damages

Question 19

Duty - Foreseeable Plaintiff

Answer 19

A duty is owed to all foreseeable plaintiffs. Under the majority rule, a foreseeable plaintiff is one who is within the zone of foreseeable harm.

Question 20

Standard of Care - Business Invitee

Answer 20

A business invitee is someone invited to enter or remain on the land for a purpose connected to business dealings with the land possessor. Duty of reasonable care

Question 21

Breach

Answer 21

A breach occurs when the defendant’s conduct falls below the applicable standard of care

Question 22

Actual Cause

Answer 22

But-for cause

Question 23

Proximate Cause

Answer 23

The defendant’s conduct must also be the proximate cause of the injury. Proximate cause requires that the plaintiff suffer a foreseeable harm that is not too remote and is within the risk created by the defendant’s conduct.

Question 24

Damages

Answer 24

The plaintiff must prove actual harm like personal injury or property damage, in order to complete requirements of liability for negligence

Question 25

Duty - rendering aid/placed in peril

Answer 25

In general, no affirmative duty to act. However, a person who places another in peril is under a duty to exercise reasonable care to prevent further harm by rendering care or aid. Similarly, a person who voluntarily aids or rescues another has a duty to act with reasonable ordinary care in the performance of that aid or rescue.

Question 26

Contributory Negligence

Answer 26

At CL, a plaintiff’s contributory negligence barred his right to recover, even if the degree of the defendant’s negligence was much greater than that of the plaintiff. Abolished by most jurisdictions.

Question 27

Comparative Negligence

Answer 27

A plaintiff’s contributory negligence is typically not a complete bar to recovery but may reduce the number of recoverable damages

Question 28

Assumption of the Risk

Answer 28

AOR is a complete bar to recovery in contributory negligence jdsx and a minority in comparative fault jdxs. This requires that the plaintiff voluntarily and knowingly assumed the risk.

Question 29

Strict Liability: Wild Animals

Answer 29

The owner and possessor of a wild animal is SL for harm done by that animal in spite of any precautions the owner or possessor has taken to confine the animal or prevent the harm if the harm arises from a dangerous propensity that is characteristic of such a wild animal or of which the owner has reason to know.