Torts

Question 1

Julie has a cat named Brooke

Answer 1

• tortoiseshell cat
• has “tortitude”

Question 2

torts

Answer 2

• torts are wrongful actions
• civil offenses, not part of criminal law at all
• Some torts have the same name as criminal offenses
  
  • If someone punches you in the face, they can
    
    • be charged with the crime of assault
    • also be sued in civil court for the tort of assault

Question 3

tortfeasor

Answer 3

• person who commits a tort is called a tortfeasor
• usually the defendant

Question 4

9/11 death benefits distribution

Answer 4

• Judge Feinberg developed a formula for determining future wages

Question 5

• McDonald’s Case - basic *

Answer 5

• Stella Liebeck
• 79 years old
• Albuquerque

Question 6

McDonald’s case - details

Answer 6

• Facts
  
  • 49 cent cup of coffee
  • Passenger in car that went through drive-thru at McDonalds
  • Spilled entire cup of coffee on lap, stayed there for 90 seconds
  • 3rd degree burns on 6% of her skin, lesser burns on 16%
  • 8 days in the hospital, skin grafts; lost 20 pounds (down to 83 pounds)
  • Two years of medical treatment
• Damages
  
  • Stella sought for medical costs of $20,000
  • McDonalds offered $800
• Lawsuit
  
  • Retained Texas attorney named Reed Morgan
  • Filed a suit for gross negligence in New Mexico second judicial district court
  • • Gross negligence for selling coffee that was “unreasonably dangerous and defectively manufactured”
  • $90,000; $225,000
  • McDonalds franchises required coffee to be served at 180-190 degrees
    
    • In two seconds it would cause 3rd degree burns

Question 7

McDonalds case - ruling

Answer 7

• • Comparative negligence
• o Jury found McDonalds was 80% negligent
• o And Stella Liebeck was 20% negligent
• • Jury awarded
• o $200,000 in compensatory damages (then reduced by 20%)
• o $2.7 million in punitive damages (2 days of coffee revenues)
• o Judge reduced damages to $480,000 (three times compensatory damages)
• • Finally settled out of court for less than $600,000

Question 8

Starbucks case

Answer 8

• Man burned by hot tea from an “improperly lidded cup”
• 3rd degree burns to hand

Question 9

Green v. Boddie Noel Enterprises (Hardees)

Answer 9

• 1997
• Case filed in US District Court Western District
• Diversity of citizenship applied
• Virginia law
• Products liability
• Summary judgement motion
  
  • Ruled Green cannot make a prima facie case
  • Green lost; Hardees won

Question 10

classification of torts

Answer 10

• Intentional torts
  
  • against persons
  • against property
• Unintentional torts (negligence torts)

Question 11

intentional torts against persons

Answer 11

Focus on these three

• Assault and battery
• False imprisonment
• Defamation (libel and slander)

Question 12

tort of Assault and battery

Answer 12

• …

Question 13

tort of False imprisonment

Answer 13

• …

Question 14

tort of Intentional infliction of emotional distress

Answer 14

• …

Question 15

Intentional torts against property

Answer 15

• Focus on conversion

Question 16

conversion

Answer 16

• Similar to crime of larceny
• intentional tort against property

Question 17

appropriation

Answer 17

• The use by one person of another person’s name, likeness, or other identifying characteristic, without permission and for the benefit of the user
• Right to privacy includes right to exclusive use of his or her identity
• States have statutes preventing appropriation
• In general, courts have ruled that names can be used if they are reverencing an idea, but not for exploitation

Question 18

trespass to personal property

Answer 18

• intentional tort against property
• …

Question 19

Celebrity appropriation:

Rosa Parks and OutKast

Answer 19

• Outkast amed a song “Rosa Parks”
• Rosa Parks family did not like the use of her name
• Family sued the record label in federal court
• Settled out of court—charity and education

Question 20

Celebrity appropriation:

Naked Cowboy

Answer 20

• Robert Burke
• Street performer in NYC
• Appears in ads for Chevy, licensed his name and likeness to companies
• M&Ms decided to use his likeness in the form of a naked cowboy M&M on billboards in Times Square
• Burke sued in federal court for appropriation, but eventually focused on trademark
• Court ruled that …

Question 21

proximate cause

Answer 21

• …

Question 22

defamation

Answer 22

• Libel – written defamation
• Slander – spoken defamation
• Defamation must be made public, published
• Public figures have a higher burden to prove defamation: must prove “actual malice” (the knowledge of falsity or the reckless disregard for the truth)

Question 23

assault and battery

Question 24

false imprisonment

Question 25

*defenses to negligence torts*

Answer 25

* Contributory negligence * few jurisdictions * Plaintiff recovers nothing if he is at fault * Comparative negligence * more common * As long as plaintiff is less than 50% at fault, he can recover pro rata share of verdict

Question 26

*Harris Teeter v. Burroughs - details*

Answer 26

* Supreme Court of Virginia, 1991 * Product liability case * Burroughs ate the cake * Ordered a sheet cake from the store for birthday party with rainbow icing only * Found that cake had two plastic birds on it * White birds were resting on white clouds * She added candles and added plastic carebear ornaments * Kids did not eat birds * Plaintiff swallowed a piece of cake whole without chewing * Plaintiff had plastic bird removed from colon a few weeks later * Main issue was whether placing white birds on white clouds was negligent

Question 27

Harris Teeter v. Burroughs - ruling

Answer 27

* Birds were not “deleterious substance” (foreign matter) in food * Court ruled that Harris Teeter was not negligent because cake was free from foreign matter and was fit for human consumption