Deck 5: Torts and Strict Liability

Question 1

A threat of future harm or moral pressure is not considered false imprisonment.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Merely locking one door to a building when other exits are not locked is not false imprisonment.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

The tort of misappropriation of the right to publicity is also called the tort of excoriation.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

It would be a violation of the right to equal protection under the U.S.Constitution for a state to pass a merchant protection statute allowing merchants,but not other citizens,to stop and detain suspected shoplifters.

Question 5

The unintentional confinement or restraint of another person without authority or justification and without that person's consent constitutes false imprisonment.

Question 6

The word "tort" is the French word for a "wrong."

Question 7

Merchant protection statutes allow merchants to stop,detain,and investigate suspected shoplifters without being held liable for false imprisonment if there are reasonable grounds for the suspicion,suspects are detained for only a reasonable time,and investigations are conducted in a reasonable manner.

Question 8

A threat of future harm is not actionable as an assault.

Question 9

Assault requires that the defendant touch the plaintiff in some manner.

Question 10

Battery is unauthorized and harmful or offensive physical contact with another person that causes injury.

Question 11

A false arrest is also a false imprisonment,but not all false imprisonments are also false arrests.

Question 12

A false statement that appears in writing or other "fixed medium" is slander.

Question 13

Placing someone in a "false light" constitutes an invasion of privacy.

Question 14

Direct physical contact is necessary in order to prevail in an action for battery.

Question 15

Each person has the exclusive legal right to control and profit from the commercial use of his or her name and identity during his or her lifetime.

Question 16

Mike sees Jan,who he dislikes,walking in the street and shoots an arrow at her.He misses but instead hits Betsy.Betsy cannot sue Mike for battery because there was no intent on the part of Mike to injure her.

Question 17

The tort of misappropriation of the right to publicity does not apply in the case of public figures,because public figures are presumed to have consented to public use of their likeness.

Question 18

Merchant protection statutes are also known as the "shopkeeper's discretion."

Question 19

Under the inferred intent doctrine,the law transfers the perpetrator's intent from the target to the actual victim of the act.

Question 20

In a case involving misappropriation of the right to publicity,the plaintiff can recover the unauthorized profits made by the offending party,but the plaintiff is not entitled to obtain an injunction preventing further unauthorized use of his or her name or identity.

Question 21

Most courts hold that defamatory statements in radio and television broadcasts are not considered libel.

Question 22

Regarding fraud,scienter refers to the intent to injure the innocent party.

Question 23

Truth is an absolute defense to a charge of defamation.

Question 24

In order to be liable for a negligence tort,one must have intended the consequences of the act or conduct in question.

Question 25

Disparagement requires injury to the plaintiff but does not require a specific intent by the defendant to injure.

Question 26

When a student states in a written student evaluation that her professor is boring and uninspiring,if in fact her professor has won the professor of the year award for the past three years,she is committing libel.

Question 27

The name for an oral defamatory statement is libel.

Question 28

The doctrine of intentional tort is commonly referred to as negligence.

Question 29

Donovan takes his date to a sports bar to have a beer and watch the big football game.When a play goes against the local team,the other patrons start yelling obscenities,which greatly upsets his date.She asks the other customers to watch their language and one of them curses at her telling her to mind her own business.She is so appalled that she runs out of the bar crying.She can sue the bar and its patrons for intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Question 30

Tom is going to propose to Betty,so he goes to a jeweler to buy a diamond engagement ring.The jeweler shows him a diamond and states that it is "AAA" quality with only one minor surface flaw.Tom,an amateur gemologist,looks through a jeweler's magnifying glass and sees multiple flaws and that it is merely "A" quality.Because it is a good price anyway,he says nothing and buys it.Betty says no to the proposal and the jeweler won't take back the ring.If Tom sues the jeweler for fraud regarding the deceptive statements made by the jeweler,Tom will win.

Question 31

Intentional infliction of emotional distress requires that the conduct be outrageous.

Question 32

Negligence is defined as the failure to do something a reasonable person would do,or doing something a prudent and reasonable person would not do.

Question 33

The United States Supreme Court has held that public officials cannot recover for defamation unless they can prove that the defendant acted with "actual malice."

Question 34

Under the doctrine of negligence,a person is liable for harm that is the foreseeable consequences of his or her actions.

Question 35

If Aimee sues Faye for assault and Aimee wins,Faye,if she believes that the court made a bad decision and that Aimee only sued for malicious reasons,may successfully sue Aimee for malicious prosecution.

Question 36

With regard to defamation,"publication" requires that the defamatory statement be published in a newspaper,magazine or book.

Question 37

A party can be liable for defamation for truthful statements if the statement hurts the plaintiff's reputation.

Question 38

A "product disparagement" claim may be brought for an untrue statement regarding a product of a business.

Question 39

True statements can be the basis for commission of the tort of invasion of the right to privacy.

Question 40

Only a company making an untrue statement about another company can commit disparagement.

Question 41

If two (or more)persons are liable for negligently causing the plaintiff's injuries,both (or all)can be held liable to the plaintiff if each of their acts is a substantial factor in causing the plaintiff's injuries.

Question 42

In a negligence action,the defendant's subjective intent is immaterial in assessing liability.

Question 43

The test for actual cause is this: "But for" the defendant's conduct,would the accident have happened?"

Question 44

A plaintiff can generally recover for negligent infliction of emotional distress for any unintentional conduct of the defendant that causes the plaintiff to suffer emotional distress.

Question 45

Doctors,lawyers,architects and accountants owe a duty of ordinary care in providing their services.This duty is known as the "reasonable professional" standard.

Question 46

Proximate cause is also called "equitable cause."

Question 47

In a negligence action,defendants with a particular expertise or competence are measured against a "reasonable professional" standard.

Question 48

In a negligence action,if the defendant is a man,the court applies a reasonable man standard to establish the duty of care owed.If the defendant is a woman,the court applies a reasonable woman standard.

Question 49

Stella Liebeck was successful in her suit against McDonald's after she was injured by coffee spilling in her lap because McDonald's was found to have acted recklessly in the design of the lid,which loosened and caused a spill and resultant injuries.

Question 50

In order to meet the causation requirement in a negligence action,both causation in fact and proximate cause must be proven.

Question 51

Even though a defendant's negligent act may have breached a duty of care owed to the plaintiff,this breach is not actionable unless the plaintiff suffers injury or injury to his or her property.

Question 52

If two people suffer similar injuries from the same negligent act,the law requires that the damages they receive be equal.

Question 53

To recover in a negligence per se action,the plaintiff must prove that a statute existed,the statute was enacted to prevent the type of injury suffered,and the plaintiff was within a class of persons meant to be protected by the statute.

Question 54

Requirements for recovery for the negligent infliction of emotional distress vary from state to state.

Question 55

Actual cause is also referred to as "causation in equity."

Question 56

If Carol,a heart surgeon,is sued for negligently driving her car,she will be held to a reasonable heart surgeon standard when establishing the duty of care owed.

Question 57

All states mandate that in order for a plaintiff to recover for the tort of negligent infliction of emotional distress,the plaintiff must demonstrate some form of physical injury to accompany his or her emotional distress.

Question 58

Passersby are generally not expected to rescue others gratuitously to save them from harm.

Question 59

The violation of a statute that proximately causes an injury is negligence by proxy.

Question 60

A person is walking on a public sidewalk.When he finishes smoking a cigarette,which is still lit,he negligently tosses it,and it lands close to a house.The cigarette causes a fire that burns down the house.In this instance,the smoker is not the proximate cause of the damage.

Question 61

In a negligence per se lawsuit,the plaintiff must prove: 1)the existence of a statute applicable to the dispute; and 2)the defendant owed a case-specific,subjective duty of care.

Question 62

When filing a lawsuit for negligence,the plaintiff must declare whether the contributory negligence or comparative negligence doctrine applies to the dispute.

Question 63

A rare example of negligent infliction of emotional distress involves a bystander who witnesses the injury or death of a relative caused by another's negligent conduct.

Question 64

Most cities have an ordinance that places the responsibility for fixing public sidewalks in residential areas on the homeowners whose homes front the sidewalks.According to the negligence by proxy doctrine,in light of such an ordinance,a homeowner would be liable if he or she failed to repair a damaged sidewalk in front of his or her home and a pedestrian tripped and was injured because of the unrepaired sidewalk.

Question 65

The Federal Torts Claims Act established the doctrine of sovereign immunity,freeing governments from liability for the acts of their governmental employees.

Question 66

A defendant is not liable for injuries caused by a superseding or intervening event for which he or she is not responsible.

Question 67

Ted crosses the street while not paying attention and fails to notice a flashing "Do Not Cross" sign.Alice,who is distracted,sees Ted at the last minute and hits him,breaking his leg.When Ted sues Alice,she can successfully use the defense of assumption of risk.

Question 68

Jane Erickson takes her ten-month-old baby,Benjamin,to a hockey game.During warm-ups,a player makes a "slap-shot" to the goal.The hockey puck flies off the ice,over the protective barrier located around the rink and into the stands,striking and seriously injuring Benjamin,who was in Jane's arms when he was hit by the puck.According to the assumption of the risk doctrine,Benjamin cannot recover for his injuries.

Question 69

The doctrine of res ipsa loquitur constitutes a type of defense to a negligence action.

Question 70

Negligent infliction of emotional distress requires that the defendant commit an outrageous act against the plaintiff.

Question 71

A successful "bystander recovery" case requires the plaintiff to prove the following elements: 1)a relative was killed or injured by the defendant; 2)the plaintiff suffered emotional distress; and 3)the plaintiff's mental distress resulted from a later observance of the accident scene.

Question 72

Res ipsa loquitur means "the thing speaks for itself."

Question 73

Many states have replaced the doctrine of comparative negligence with the doctrine of contributory negligence.

Question 74

A baseball fan assumes the risk of being hit by a foul ball if he or she purchases a ticket and sits in a seat located down the first-base line.

Question 75

Under negligence principles,a person is liable only for foreseeable events.

Question 76

The defense of assumption of the risk assumes that the plaintiff had knowledge of the specific risk and voluntarily assumed the risk.

Question 77

Res ipsa loquitur applies in cases where the defendant had non-exclusive control of the instrumentality or situation that caused the plaintiff's injury,and the injury would not have ordinarily occurred but for someone's negligence.

Question 78

The doctrine of negligence per se is used where the plaintiff was unable to observe the conduct of the defendant that led to the injury.

Question 79

Good Samaritan laws protect medical professionals only from liability for their ordinary negligence,not for injuries caused by their gross negligence or reckless or intentional conduct.

Question 80

Good Samaritan laws do not generally protect persons who are not medical professionals and who have not had training in CPR.