Tort Law - Quiz 2

Proximate Cause

“_____ _____”is sometimes called “legal cause.” It refers to the factual cause being connected to the defendant’s liability should be determined to injuries that are a foreseeable consequence of the defendant’s conduct.

Rescue Doctrine

Under the _____ _____, anyone who negligently causes harm to a person or property may be liable to one who is injured in an effort to rescue the imperiled person or property.

Dram Shop Law

Under _____ law, a bar owner or a social host who serves liquor to an obviously intoxicated patron may be liable for injuries inflicted by the patron’s negligence.

_____ are generally held to the standard of a reasonable person of like age, intelligence, and experience under like circumstances.

Minors

If a seller fails to disclose a dangerous condition of which he or she should be aware and which she should realize that the buyer will not discover, she will be _____ to anyone injured as a result of that condition, until the point in time where the buyer has had a reasonable opportunity to find and correct the defect

Liable

Eggshell

The _____ or ______ plaintiff rule holds that a defendant “takes the plaintiff as he finds him” and is liable for the full extent of a plaintiff’s injuries that are severe due to a particular condition of the plaintiff, even though the average person’s injuries would have been less severe.

Objective Standard

An _____ standard is used to assess whether a defendant acted in a reasonable manner in determining whether he or she has breached a duty.

Cardozo rule

Under the _____ rule, also the majority rule, on proximate cause, defendant owes a duty of care to the reasonably foreseeable plaintiff, and is liable for all reasonably foreseeable consequences of his negligence.

Res Ipsa Loquitur

Latin for “the thing speaks for itself.” This doctrine applies when there is an implication that the defendant was negligent without providing direct evidence of the negligence, because the instrument that caused the injury was under the exclusive control of the defendant.

Learned Hand formula

The _____ formula considers the probability that harm will result from defendant’s conduct, multiplied by the gravity of the potential harm, weighed against the burden of precautions that would have to be borne by the defendants to avoid the possible risk.

Attractive Nuisance Doctrine

The _____ nuisance doctrine provides that a possessor of land is liable if they maintain a dangerous condition on land that induces children to enter the premises because it is an enticing item on which to play.

With a few exceptions, one typically does not have a duty to make their land safe for a _____.

Trespasser

Lawyers, doctors, accountants, and police officers are held to the standard of care commonly exercised by members in good standing of their _____.

Profession

Under _____ _______ statutes in many jurisdictions, anyone providing emergency medical assistance is not liable for damages arising from that assistance as long as care is provided in good faith and does not constitute gross negligence.

Good samaritan

Under the _____ _____ ____for actual cause, two or more concurrent or successive events combine to cause the plaintiff’s injury and each of them is a substantial factor in producing the injury.

Substantial factor test

Definition of “duty”

A legal obligation to act reasonably, arises out of our relationship to others and is a necessary element of a negligence action.

In an _____ a defendant is not expected to act with the same rational and calm consideration as one would exhibit in a less stressful situation, but is expected to act with a reasonable person faced with the same circumstances.

Emergency

Per Se

Negligence _____, found where a defendant has violated a statute, the statute is applicable to the facts of the case, and there is a causal link between the act constituting a violation of the statute and the plaintiff’s injury.

Historically under common law, a person invited onto land for a business purpose is considered an _____, to whom the possessor of land owes a duty to inspect the premises for hidden dangers. In modern times, this status is also extended to invited social guests in many jurisdictions, such as Indiana.

Invitee

The _____ position on breach of duty states that an act is negligent if the risk of such magnitude as to outweigh what the law regards as the utility of the act or of the particular manner in which it is done.

Risk Utility

Possessors of land owe a _____ duty of care to frequent trespassers who use only a very _____ area of their land.

Small

Historically under common law, a social guest with no business purpose for being on the land was considered a _____, to whom the possessor of land owed only a duty to warn of any known dangerous conditions that may not be obvious.

Licensee

A _____ is liable to a tenant and to a tenant’s invitees and licensees for those dangers that the landlord knows or should know about and that the tenant has no reason to know about.

landlord

If an intervening cause rises to such a level of importance that it precludes the defendant’s negligence from being the proximate cause of the plaintiff’s injury, it becomes a _____ cause and cancels out the defendant’s liability.

superseding

Conduct that creates an unreasonable risk of harm to another.

Negligence

Determining whether a _____ _____ has occurred requires a) a determination of the relevant standard of care and b) an evaluation of the defendant’s conduct in light of that standard.

Breach of Duty

An _____ cause is a cause that occurs after the defendant’s negligent act and that contributes to the plaintiff’s injury.

intervening

Under the common law, a defendant has no legal _____ to aid a plaintiff in distress unless a special relationship exists between the plaintiff and defendant.

duty

An employer can have _____ liability for the tortious acts of his employees under the doctrine of respondeat superior.

vicarious

Under the __ ___ test for actual cause, if the plaintiff’s injuries would not have occurred but for the defendant’s negligence, the defendant will be deemed the actual cause of the plaintiff’s injuries.

but for

The _____ purpose doctrine holds the owner of a car vicariously liable for the torts committed by those members of his household whom he allows to drive his car.

family

A possessor of land is liable to a _____ trespasser, or a trespasser of whom a possessor is aware, because the possessor’s continuing tolerance of the trespass constitutes implied permission to use the land.

known